Finding Love at Club Polaris
by mangaluva09
Summary: Serena is a new bartender at a popular club and unlucky in love. Little does she know that true love has literally been staring her in the face, but she’s been ignoring him all along. Serena and Darien, as well as other senshi pairings. Please r&r.
1. Club Polaris and the Mysterious Man

**Finding Love at Club Polaris**

Author's note and disclaimer: of course I do not own Sailor Moon. I really hope that you guys like this story – I'll try to work on it while I work on my other one. I rated this one M for mature because of language and also, of course, this is about strippers – so we're going to have some sexual content in here as well (although this might not occur until later chapters). This time I decided to use the dub names – which I hope you guys don't mind. There are some yuri pairings, so if you don't like that then, I guess that this story isn't for you. I also decreased the age difference between Serena and Darien in this story – just because of the circumstances. Words in italics are the Serena's thoughts – just to let you know in advance, since she's telling this story.

Summary: Serena is a new bartender at a popular club and unlucky in love, all the men that she's dated have been jerks. Little does Serena know that true love has literally been staring her in the face, but she's been ignoring him all along. Serena and Darien. Please review.

**Chapter One: Club Polaris and the Mysterious Man**

"Hi, well my name is Serena; I'm twenty four years old, single and still looking." I said to the camera positioned in front of me. My older sister Mina was behind the lens, she's a professional matchmaker, and because of the fact that my love life has sucked ever since my 18th birthday, I decided to use her services. We were in her office and she was taping me for her files. She likes to watch the tapes because she feels that she get a better sense of someone's personality when they are video tapped, instead of writing down their wishes for compatible mates on paper. Sometimes she would also show the tapes to other clients if they proved to be a somewhat "hopeless case," just to see if there was someone out there who might like them. Mina glared at me from behind the camera, and made a motion for me to continue. "Sorry I'm a little nervous – this is the first time that I've ever applied for one of these things. Does this make me seem a bit desperate?"

"No Serena!" Mina hissed, "just keep on going! We're still rolling!"

"Shit! You better edit that out later Mina!" I regained my composure and decided to give it another go. "Tonight I'm going to start working at a very popular club called Polaris, yes I know the one with the live strippers, and no I'm not a stripper you perverts! I'm a bartender, and I think that I'm a pretty damned good one at that. I've been bartending since I was twenty-one, went to bartending school, and I think that I'm pretty good at what I do. I'm looking for a man who is sweet and romantic. Someone who knows how to make me laugh is definitely a plus. Also a guy who can handle a girl who loves to eat, play video games, and pretty much knows how to have a good time seems like my perfect kind of man. I don't really have a preference in terms of looks; I'm mostly a personality type of girl. The reason that I'm still single is probably because I always end up with losers. Most men just want to try to use me as their personal blowup doll, use me for a while then cheat on me later. But I don't want to be someone's sex toy or trophy wife that just sits on the sidelines, there for him to fuck at a convenient time when he can't get any, or get all dolled up just to be presented at some charity ball – then told to go spend his money to make me feel better. I actually want to mean something to a guy, be his one and only. I want a man who will love me for me, and not want anyone else because he thinks of me as his jewel, his diamond in the rough – the most precious item that he has in his possession. I want to be treated like a princess, is that so much to ask? Doesn't every girl want that? Almost every man that I have been with has cheated on me, and those who haven't often just assume that I'm not long-term relationship material. People think that just because I'm a blonde with blue eyes and a nice body that I have no substance. Of course I've heard all the dumb blonde jokes – and most of them have been directed at me, but I want someone who will realize that I'm more than just T and A. I want a man who will realize that I'm intelligent, someone who is actually interested in my personality. You don't have to be Mr. Muscle with sensitivity to match your rock hard abs; I'm just out there looking for my Mr. Right, just like every other girl out there." Tears started to well up in my eyes, as Mina gave me the 'cut' sign.

"Perfect Serena, although maybe you could expand more on what you want in a guy – but otherwise yeah you did great, way better than my other clients."

"Mina, please don't compare me with your clients. I've met some of them before remember, and they can be pretty, um – interesting."

"Oops, sorry!" She said, giving me a pat on the back, "besides you're my sister –I treat you differently than my clients of course."

"Be honest with me Mina, how desperate am I?" I asked, praying that she wouldn't confirm my worst fear.

Mina sighed, "Serena do you really want me to answer that question?"

"Yes I do!" Even though I already knew the answer, I just needed to hear it.

"Incredibly, almost pathetically desperate. Honestly you need to stop looking so hard – I think that if you wait around the perfect man will just stroll on into your life."

"Maybe you're right. I'm still young,"

"Yes."

"I guess I've turned a few heads walking down the street"

"Yes, definitely."

"I've got a nice personality that any guy could appreciate,"

"Yes."

"I'll never be able to find a man though!"

"Ye-no!" That's when I started bawling my eyes out. Mina came over next to me and started rubbing my back. She grabbed a couple of tissues, and handed them over to me, and I blew my nose loudly as Mina tried to comfort me.

"No Serena, you can do this – trust me, even though you're going to be working at a bar, there must be at least one decent guy who will come in for a drink. I mean after all I met Raye at a club – remember she's a bartender too." Mina said, smiling at the mention of her lover's name.

"But you two were just meant be together – plus you're girls. A lot of guys are jerks." I wailed at her, continuing to sob into my tissues.

"Serena you're perfect, seriously though – we're all still young and that perfect guy must be out there somewhere. You know that I would never let you become the crazy cat lady, I'd rather die than see one of my sister of all people in that type of situation." Mina gave me a heartwarming smile, and I just smiled back at her as the tears started going away.

"You know what sis, if I liked girls in the same way that you do – I'd have to consider stealing Raye away from you – she's pretty good looking." I teased, waiting for Mina's reaction.

Mina let out a cute laugh, "good luck with that Serena, I don't think that I'd ever give her up that easily. Besides do you think that you could really handle someone like Raye?"

I let out a little laugh; Mina was always able to make me feel better. "Yeah you're right Mina." I checked my watch, "well time to go home and get ready for work."

"Good luck with your first day on the job. Tell Raye that I said hi!" Mina said smiling at me.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that's the club where you two met isn't it?" I asked, as I was about to walk out the door.

Mina shook her head yes, "now hurry up or else you'll be late – and Raye doesn't like tardiness, she's head bartender you know."

"Thank heaven that I brought my clothes and makeup here with me, Mina can I please use your bathroom?"

"Sure – you know where it is Ser." Mina chuckled and watched as I ran out of the room, my large bag containing my clothes in hand.

I got to the bathroom and locked the door, then started changing into my sexy work outfit. I put on a nice black top that gave me an opportunity to show off my flat stomach – and unfortunately my large breasts. It took me a little while to get "the girls" to stay inside my top, but I managed with some tape that I always carry with me in case of an emergency. _Ugh I hate having large boobs,_ and proceeded to pull on my short black skirt. I put on some fishnet stockings and thigh high boots – which made me taller, and I appreciated it since I'm only 4'11." The whole time I was getting dressed, I couldn't help but think about my new job, what it was going to be like – how Raye might kill me if I screw up. _Raye is my boss; oh this is going to be good. Why didn't she interview me then? Maybe she didn't want to do it because of her involvement with my sister, and her bosses felt that it wouldn't be a good idea in case we're close. That must be it – but knowing Raye, she's a real hard ass. She's going to give me such a hard time, especially since Mina's my sister and she knows me so well. Damn, damn, damn! Oh why me! _Even though I was panicking, I managed to get all of my clothes on, including my earrings, and the small wrap-around scarf which read "Polaris" at the two ends that hung dangerously close to my breasts; I touched up my 'hot red' lipstick, gave myself a nice smoky eye, checked to see that every hair on my head was in place and was ready to go. I gave myself one last glance in the mirror, looking up and down my body, _damn I look like a hooker, ugh; maybe they'll give me a better outfit if I get a promotion. That's the life of a bartender I guess. Well at least black is flattering._ I quickly put my change of clothes and makeup back into my bag, opened the door, and there standing in front of me was a handsome man. _Only in a matchmaker's office could this ever happen. _He had dazzling blue eyes and jet-black hair.

"Oh sorry, I was just about to knock on the door. I really have to use the restroom, and I needed to get out of here before work." He said a bit apologetically as if he had walked in on me.

"It's no problem at all, you didn't do anything wrong. Go ahead, the bathroom is all yours." I replied a bit nervously, trying not to stare too hard at the man.

"Thanks, well – uh – nice meeting you." He stammered as we awkwardly switched places, "thanks again, bye."

"Bye," I smiled at him and gave a little wave, then remembered where I was supposed to be going and hurried out of the building as quickly as I could. I reached the parking lot, climbed into my Land Rover, and threw my bag into the back. Yes I said Land Rover, I guess you wouldn't expect me to drive that car, and sped out of the parking lot. Luckily Polaris was only twenty minutes away from Mina's office; unluckily I had five minutes to get there on time. _Damn it, how will I be able to make it on time, I don't want to speed too much because cops pretty much live inside their cars on these streets. But if I'm late that means that I have to face the wrath of Raye, is there no end to my misery?_ Then I notice a green light coming up. _Yes! If I keep on getting all of these green lights, then maybe I will still be in the clear._ As I got closer and closer to the light I sped up a little bit because it was a stale green light and I'll be damned if I have to sit at the light for a few minutes. Of course, with my luck as bad as it is the light turned red a few seconds before I was even close to the light. "Shit, why me? Oh well I can make up for this – cops or no cops, I can make up for this" I said, trying to comfort myself. But the light seemed to refuse to turn green again; I slowly realized that it's one of those timed lights. "Come on you stupid light, turn green!" Finally the damned thing turned green, and I took full advantage of the situation, and quickly hurried towards work. Then I hit another red light at the next stop. Another one came up a minute later. _This is the last time that I ever drive from Mina's office to my job_. Eventually I got out of the final red light and made a right turn into Polaris' employee parking lot. It was 5:40; I was a whole twenty-five minutes late – which would not run well with Raye. I quickly parked the car in one of the few remaining spaces and turned it off. As I was about to get out, I immediately noticed a woman in a short red dress standing outside of the employee entrance – hanging around right underneath the "no loitering" sign. She was not wearing the usual attire of a Polaris bartender; the club's colors were blue and black. The newer employees wore black, and the veterans would wear blue with some hints of black here and there – I knew because I had been to the club a few times with Mina when I was still in bartending school. It had been my dream to work at Polaris ever since I first stepped foot in there. So I assumed that she might be a customer, or some prostitute trying to make a quick buck with one of the strippers. _Is she really just lingering right outside of the employee entrance, what the hell? I'm going to have to tell her to move. _Getting out of the car, I was about to run up to her and say "excuse me" when a familiar voice echoed into my ears.

"What the hell took you so long meatball head?"

I was about to defend myself – because I absolutely hate that name, when I noticed that the reason that the voice was familiar was because it belonged to – "Raye! I'm so sorry I'm late, please forgive me."

"Where were you and what were you doing Serena? You know if I knew that you weren't such a great bartender and didn't need to do any orientation training, I would have already fired you." Raye said as she leaned against the building, her red dress clinging to every curve on her body. She aimlessly stared at the car directly in front of her and I could tell already that this cannot be good.

"I'm so sorry Raye, it won't happen again…" I groveled, prepared to get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness. "If you must know I was at Mina's office, I was – um, well, we were…" I really didn't know how to explain this to Raye knowing that she would definitely make fun of me if she knew why I was at Mina's office.

"Let me guess, someone can't get a date and needs a bit of help from big sis?" Raye asked, looking at me for the first time, her large dark violet eyes accusing me of wrongdoing, hands on her hips. I was utterly speechless. "Mina called me earlier and told me that you might be late because you were coming from her office. She told me that you were making a profile, and to please excuse your tardiness for today."

_Damn it Mina, haven't you ever heard of confidentiality? You're supposed to be practicing it because you deal with people's personal lives!_ Inside my head I was fuming, but I could not possibly display this to Raye, who at this point – I couldn't tell if she was mad or if she was enjoying watching me squirm.

Raye studied me for a bit, and then a sly grin crept across her mouth. "It's about time that you started thinking about getting serious with someone Ser, but next time do it a few hours before work instead of a few minutes. Mina is the best at that sort of thing though, so at least you went to the right person." I sighed with relief and smiled back at Raye, happy that she wasn't going to try to rip me a new one – at least not today. That's when Raye's expression changed, to a large frown. "But next time don't expect Mina to be your saving grace. You have to be here on time, and you won't be able to use my girlfriend as a method of covering your ass! As one of the new owners of Polaris, I have to make sure that everything at the club is running smoothly. Just because I'm dating your sister doesn't mean that I'm not going to treat you differently than the other employees okay?"

"Yes ma'am." I said, happy that she was at least giving me a free pass for today.

"Now come on, let's get to the bar." Raye demanded as she opened the door and escorted me into the back of the club. We passed by two dressing rooms, one with the word men on it, and the other with the word women neatly written on the door. Men and women were coming in and out of the rooms, and from the looks of their attire – most were strippers. The men had pants with buttons going all the way up and down their pant legs, and easily ripped up shirts. The women were wearing sexy shirts that let you get a little peak, and short – flowing skirts that seemed as if they could easily be taken off. A few of the people who were coming out of the dressing rooms were new bartenders, like myself. I assumed that most of the veterans were already at the bar – helping to set up for tonight. Raye quickly ushered me through the kitchen, while telling me "don't even think about grabbing a snack Serena - I want you to keep your girlish figure" and out to the empty club. I noticed a few other new bartenders had followed the two of us out from "behind the scenes."

"Okay, I'm going to get the rest of the new bartenders and then we'll do introductions – you weren't the only one who missed orientation Serena, aren't you lucky? So just wait here for a few minutes, and then we'll start."

I nodded at Raye, and took the minutes allotted to me to take in my scenery. The club was just as I had remembered it. The ceiling was painted black with a few white lights here and there that were made to look like stars. Larger multi-colored lights hung from the ceiling, which were used to illuminate the strippers when the time called, as well as set a mood for the club. The walls were blue and had the word "Polaris" written once on each of the walls in black. Besides that, there wasn't much else in terms of decorations on the walls. From a person entering the club's perspective the bar, complete with a long line of bar stools and a large, fully loaded bar was to the far right of the room. Both ends of the bar were not connected to the walls or anything, which made it easy for the bartenders to get in and out of the bar. A small section of the bar was reserved for the waiters to pick up bar orders for the people on the second floor – or for the booths against the first floor walls. Adjacent to the bar, two blue doors marked "employees only" lead to the kitchen – where I had came out of earlier with Raye, where all of the delicious treats that club Polaris had to offer were made. A few brightly blue colored tables and chairs were positioned throughout the room; electric blue booths were placed against the wall, so that way people who wanted to order some munchies or just take a break could do so. The seats looked almost as if they had been lined with silk for extra comfort – but I doubted that the fabric on the chairs and the booths were composed of electric blue silk. A nice size dance floor was positioned in the middle of the room. To the left – a bit in the back, was the vertical "stripper stage," which was large enough for three people to comfortably walk across, and long enough to be a catwalk. Four stripper poles lined the stage. Tables and chairs were lined up near the stage, barren for now, but soon to be filled. In between the bar and the stripper stage was a black DJ booth, where the hottest new DJs would strut their stuff. The majority of the speakers were hidden from view, placed into sections of the walls. Stairs immediately to the left of the front entrance were blocked with a velvet rope. A bodyguard had already been placed next to the stairs. As an employee, I knew that the stairs lead up to the second floor, which I could see from where I was standing. The second floor was partially open – in the middle, essentially think of it as a big square with a medium-sized hole in the middle. A long line of golden bars or "fences" or whatever you want to call them, blocked off the entire open space – that way guests would not be able to slip and fall down onto the first floor if they were a bit too tipsy. Large booths, tables and chairs – exactly the same as the ones downstairs were strategically placed against the walls and on the carpet of the second floor – in a manner so that people on the second floor could look down on the people on the first floor. Normally the second floor was reserved for VIP guests, who had attendants bring them drinks from the bar, but at times the second floor was also rented out for bachelor and bachelorette parties (if they didn't want to pay a pretty penny to rent out the whole bar – and believe me there were people that did). As I completed my once over of my new job and old stomping ground, I noticed that Raye had re-emerged from the back of the club.

"All right bartenders! Time for introductions, let's get to know each other – and I guess we should also introduce you to the chefs who work behind the scenes, and the waiters whom you will also be working with. So go ahead and mingle for a few minutes, then let's get ready to get started. The bar opens up at 6:30 and it's 6:00 – so hussle up people." As quickly as she had emerged, Raye vanished back into the kitchen.

I walked around, said hello to a few people, but no one really captured my interest, with the exception of the head chef – who also doubled as a bartender when she wasn't in the kitchen, monitoring the sous chefs and waiters. "Hey Lita!" I yelled out to the tall brunette who was talking to a few of the veteran bartenders. She proceeded to excuse herself, and head over to me, a big smile on her face.

"I love seeing familiar faces, how are you doing Serena? Long time no see – and you work here now, wow!" Lita said, giving me the once over, "that uniform looks nice on you. So I guess I won't be expecting you to order up one of my Polaris specials anymore now that you work here hmm?"

"Nah I'll still order them, but I think that I might eat some before and after work. If that's all right with you – I could never pass up your delicious food." I grinned, while my stomach let out a loud growl – I hadn't eaten since lunchtime.

"Oops, looks like someone forgot to feed the beast, I'll go whip up something for you really quick, give me five minutes." Lita said smiling at me, "and don't worry it's on the house this time."

"Thanks Lita, you're such a great friend." I was so happy I could barely contain myself; this job was going to be awesome. I couldn't have asked for a better job if I had tried. Five minutes later, as promised, Lita came back with a grilled cheese sandwich and some french fries, which I hungrily gobbled down.

"Wow, I guess your stomach wasn't kidding – you are hungry." Lita laughed as I quickly finished my plate.

"You're a lifesaver Lita, thank you so much. I'm really going to enjoy working with you – and not just because you're my favorite chef." I giggled happily, as I handed her the empty plate.

"Thanks Serena, I really appreciate that. Well, it's almost time to get to work, are you ready?"

"Definitely – I've been waiting to get a chance to work at Polaris for so long – well maybe not that long, but it's good to know that dreams come true. Well, I should head to the bar, and I'm guessing that you're off to the kitchen, so it's always nice seeing you and I'm so glad that we'll be working together."

"Yeah I'm glad to see that my favorite regular is going to become one of my favorite co-workers. I'll see you later then Serena." Lita said as she walked back through the two bright blue doors, with all of the sous chefs and waiters following behind her. Inside the kitchen I could hear her giving a pep talk to her crew.

About five seconds after Lita had gone back into the kitchen, Raye came out from behind the doors, "all right ladies and gentlemen it's time to get to work! We're opening the doors to the club in five minutes. The strippers are already in position and so are the cooks and waiters, so all we need now is the bartenders. Go ahead and take your places at your individual stations and set up whatever else you need."

I got to my station and eagerly waited the opening of the club. Everything was set up, from the mixers to the alcohol behind me on the racks of the bar. I was so excited and ready to get started. The larger lights on the ceiling came on, setting a nice happy mood for the club. The five minutes passed really quickly, and soon I found myself faced with a large number of hip – mostly single, nice looking young people coming into the club. My first customer was a nice young woman who said that she never really went out to clubs much, and was just looking to have a good time and meet some new people. She told me that her name was Amy, and that she worked as a doctor at the nearby hospital.

"So what made a nice looking doctor decide to come to a place like this?" I asked her over the roar of the hidden speakers.

"Ah, just to try something new. My matchmaker said that I should try to be more adventurous, and maybe then I could meet more guys."

"I don't want to pry into your life or anything like that – but is your matchmaker's name Mina by chance?" I asked I simply could not believe that this pretty doctor was one of my sister's clients.

"Yes, Mina Love, how'd you know that?" Amy asked me, a bit puzzled.

"She's my sister – and, well don't tell anyone but my matchmaker too."

"Really? But you're a bartender, not to mention that you're gorgeous – I'm sure that you get tons of guys."

"Well – I wouldn't say tons of guys, but all the ones that come knocking on my door are losers." I said, "besides you're a very good looking woman as well. Beautiful blue eyes and very unique blue hair, obviously intelligent since you're a doctor, why do you need a matchmaker?"

"Well…" Amy said, a light blush starting to form around her cheeks, "I'm very shy – I can never follow through. Especially when I meet someone who I really like or think is attractive. Plus, I'm attracted to women, so it's even harder – women seem to be a lot more confident than men."

"Ah I can understand where you're coming from Amy. My sister is a lesbian as well, she exudes confidence and has no problem getting girls. I wish that I had also inherited the ability to attract the right kind of people – just like our mother." I replied, pulling out a fresh glass, ready to serve. "So what will it be then Dr?"

"Only my patients call me Dr. Mercury, but you can call me Amy. I think that I'll just have a non-alcoholic cherry coke for now if that's all right?"

"Sure Amy, and you can call me Serena if you'd like."

"Very nice to meet you Serena," Amy said with a shy smile playing up her pretty features. "I wish that I could have a friend like you – I'm pretty lonely most of the time."

"Well who says you can't Amy, I normally don't do this with strangers – especially not strangers whom I bartend for, but I feel a special connection to you. Give me a pen, and I'll give you my number – we should go out sometime. By we I mean you, me, my sister, and some of our friends – we're a pretty fun group of people. You'd really enjoy yourself." I handed Amy her drink on a napkin, then pulled out another one to write my number on. Amy handed me a pen, and I quickly and neatly scribbled my number on the napkin. Amy took the piece of paper and safely put it into her purse, then pulled out her wallet. She gave me the five dollars for the simple beverage as well as a five-dollar tip, which I told her to keep because I don't like getting tips from friends. Amy blushed, smiled shyly and insisted that I keep the tip, which after a bit of pestering, I did.

"Thanks for this Serena, I'm really happy that I was able to make a new friend – and perhaps even more friends sometime soon." Amy gave me a nice large smile and was about to get out of her seat, but I had something up my sleeve.

"Hey Amy, one more thing" I told the blue haired woman, "you might want to head to the stripper stage area – the strippers are about to come out in a few minutes – and there's always a girl up first to start the night." I said with a wink.

Amy gave me a smile, whispered "thank you Serena" – then headed off to the stripper stage area, trying to get through the crowd of people.

A few more people, nameless – faceless people came to my station and requested drinks. Everyone from sleezy guys to pretty but prissy princesses came to my station. It wasn't until about an hour later that my next intriguing customer of the night sat at my station. This next customer was a man – who looked awfully familiar, but I just couldn't put my finger on where I had met him, or if I had met him in my lifetime. As a bartender you meet a lot of people – and someone has to be very unique in order for him or her to stand out. Based on the way that he looked, I thought that I could have met him in my dreams. He was tall, had jet-black hair and gorgeous blue eyes. Underneath his professional black dress shirt, I noticed that he was a very muscular man. He came up to me, stared at me for a minute, and then a smile crept across his face.

"I think that we've met before" he said, he had a very nice voice – it was deep but not too deep, the kind that you would imagine an Adonis to have.

"Oh have we?" I asked, trying not to display how gorgeous I felt that he was, _ah Serena, don't fall into the trap, a guy this good looking must be a jerk. Don't show him that you're interested._ I coached myself, smiling back at the man.

"Yeah, at Miss Love's office – I was the guy that you bumped into when you were coming out of the bathroom this afternoon."

The memory of the earlier encounter with the dazzling man, immediately registered in my head, he was kind of shy and very nice. But I had to be careful and not let my guard down completely just because he had been nice when we were doing the toilet tango. "Yeah I remember you" I remarked casually, "so what will it be stranger?"

"Hmm – well I don't really want anything, maybe a glass of water or something light, I have to get to work in a few minutes."

"Work huh, so why bother going to a club if you're about to go to work." I checked my watch, it was about 10pm, "and what job could you possibly be doing that would require you to be dressed so nicely but work so late at night?"

"A woman of many questions – I like that. Well in a few minutes your questions will be answered." The lights of the club, which had been changing all night, changed to a green color.

"Got to go, see you later blondie." With that he gave me a wink and disappeared into the crowd.

_What the hell is this guy's problem – how dare he give me such a horrible nickname! Although if it is coming from him, I guess I wouldn't mind so much._ My next customer, an elegant woman with aqua colored hair came up to the station and ordered a cosmopolitan. As I was fixing the drink, I listened as the DJ announced the next act from the stripper stage. I've been to Polaris enough to know that when a DJ announces a stripper – that means that he or she is pretty hot stuff, so I decided to sneak a peak once the performer came onto the stage.

"Ladies, if you may direct your attention to the stage, as well as any of my brothers who enjoy men as much as I do, right now we have for your viewing pleasure – our favorite business man Darien!" Energetic music was starting to fill the club as the stripper walked onto the stage; I wasn't paying attention at the time because I had to finish making the cosmo for my customer.

As I handed the customer her drink and waited for her to dig out her wallet, I decided to take a peak at to see what was so special about this stripper. To my horror, there was the guy from Mina's office, the same jet-black hair and brilliant blue eyes, taking off his pants for dollars. My jaw felt like it had dropped down to the floor. Women and gay men were flocking over to the stage holding ten, twenty, fifty, even hundred dollar bills in their hands. It was like a stampede; they were knocking down tables and chairs, trying to get to the stripper – whose name I now knew was Darien, trying to get him to take their money. His shirt was already on the floor, and I couldn't help but stare – the man had washboard abs, and I – nor any other woman in the world wouldn't mind taking a washcloth to those abs.

"Excuse me miss. Excuse me!" My customer yelled at me.

"Oh sorry, please forgive me." I said, smiling at her.

"Don't worry about it," she said, "you must be new here or something – Darien's been quite the attraction for a while. He seems to have the same reaction on every single straight woman and gay man who has ever been in this club, similar to the one that you just had. And I'll tell you something else – he's available." My customer said, winking at me and handing me fifty dollars.

"Let me get your change miss," I said, hurrying to the cash register next to my station.

"Don't worry about it, keep the change hun, you obviously have good taste, and you're not too bad looking yourself. Trust me you'll be seeing a lot more of me, the name's Michiru for future references." The woman said, blowing me a kiss and departing from the bar.

_Did she just hit on me? Nah there's no way – I thought that she was hinting that she's really attracted to Darien_. Darien finished his act; more customers came and went, eventually at 4am the club closed due to a small number of people in the club. After my day had ended, I counted the money that I had made, took out my tips, and gave the rest of it to the head bartender – who was in charge of looking after the money and then giving it to Raye. After that I decided that instead of changing in the back dressing room, I'd just go home to change – I wasn't exactly comfortable with showing my body to a bunch of women, most of whom I had never met. As I reached the door, someone tapped me on the shoulder; I spun around and was met face-to-face with the last person that I wanted to see before I left for home. My heart started to go pitter-pat as I looked up into a pair of bright blue eyes.

"Hey blondie, my sister told me that you really enjoyed the show. I guess you really like the way that I do my job." Darien said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Your sister?" I asked him, a bit confused.

"Yeah, Michiru, she's my sister – really nice woman, but if you're into girls, sorry she's already taken. I was actually kind of hoping that you were into men though." He grinned that cheesy smile once again; a smile that I could tell has been used on lots of women. This, of course, did not fly well with me – a woman who had been with enough players and "stripper types" to know that men like Darien spelled trouble.

"Listen here buddy, I'm not some object like most of these women that you toss around. I know men like you – and I don't appreciate the way that you're coming onto me, so why don't you just bug off before I report to Raye that you're sexually harassing me." At that remark, he was kind of taken aback – I'm sure that no one had ever told him off like that.

"You're quite the spunky one, I like that in a woman." He said, trying again.

"Like I said before, watch it mister…leave me alone."

"But why not? I'm a nice guy – I can show you if you want." At this point I was so furious with him that I was almost to the point of tears.

"I know what you want to show me douchebag, something that you've shown many women before me, and believe me I'm not interested! You're just like all the other men who try to get into my pants, and you know what, I'm sick of it! Get this through your thick skull, I don't date men like you!" _Well at least not anymore_. I took that opportunity to take my leave, running out to my car, I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. I knew that I wouldn't have to worry about figuring out how I did today. Raye would be at the house that I shared with Mina, and I would see her in the morning. All I could think about on the way home was Darien. I kept asking myself questions like: How could someone who seemed so shy and sweet one minute be a complete asshole the next? I guess it was the magic of Mina's office that actually turned him into a decent guy. After speeding through traffic lights on the way home, I finally made it there after what seemed like an eternity. Then I got out of my car, locked it, hurriedly found the keys to open the door, ran inside to my bedroom and cried myself to sleep.

Author's note: yes that was a very long first chapter – but the story just flowed really well. I hope that you guys liked it, please review, I'd really appreciate it as well as any suggestions that you have. Thanks everyone. Any questions or comments feel free to pm me as well.


	2. Will This Day Ever End?

Author's note: I do not own Sailor Moon. I realized that I'm so used to writing the Japanese names – that I called Sailor Neptune "Michuru" instead of "Michelle." I apologize in advance for this – and any time that I do this in the future. I've also decided to add the Starlights into the story as well – so for everyone who really likes them, then here you go. I must warn you that one of them is going to end up dressing in drag (I'm not telling you who, you'll find out when you read the chapter). Also this is the chapter where the sex – and sex talk starts (the strong language will still continue). Of course since we have lesbian senshi pairings there is some yuri in the story – you have been warned. So we've got the inners, outers, as well as the starlights in this story as a re-cap…after this chapter I should have almost everyone in it. Thanks also to my reviewer serenity11287. I'm glad that you like the story, and I will continue writing this one as well as my other story. Once again, Serena's thoughts are in italics. So here we go, (you're in for another lengthy chapter – you were warned) – please read and review all, thank you so much!

**Chapter Two: Will This Day Ever End?**

I woke up with a start as I heard Mina yell from the downstairs kitchen "Serena – do you want any lunch?"

"No" I mumbled into the pillow.

"Serena, get your lazy ass up and have some lunch! It's 1:30 – so we're talking late lunch anyway! It's time for you to get up!" Raye yelled at me, also from downstairs.

I groggily got up and dragged myself to the bathroom. I glanced at myself in the mirror – I looked like a train wreck. My hair seemed to be going in five different directions, I had forgotten to take my makeup off last night – so it was smeared all over my face from the combination of crying and sleeping. In my haste to get into bed I had thrown off some of my clothes, and hadn't even bothered to put on my favorite bunny pjs. Yes I'm 24 years old and still wear bunny pjs, so what? One bra strap hung off of my shoulder – the strap was unraveling, maybe I had hit it against something sharp or just pulled at it while I was sleeping – no idea, but this bra would definitely have to be thrown away. I was wearing the usual granny panties; hey it's not like anyone's going to see them – so why wear an uncomfortable thong? My panties seemed to have been rolled down on one side, exposing a little bit of my ass to the world. What a lovely picture. I decided that it was time to start my morning rituals – per usual, you know shower, brush my teeth, pack my work clothes, get dressed – and today I had decided to look as frumpy as possible until I had to change for work, the clothes that I picked today were dark and dismal, as well as really baggy. After deciding not to bother with makeup at all today I gloomily tromped down the stairs at around 2:20pm.

When I got down the stairs and entered the kitchen, Mina was already looking in the direction of the kitchen entrance – staring straight at me in a panic as if she had seen a ghost. "Serena, what the hell are you doing wearing that outfit? You know that you'll never get a guy if you don't put any effort into your appearance" she said, staring at me wide-eyed.

"Fuck off" I replied, sitting down at the table, "just give me some lunch Mina – I don't have the patience for your criticism this morning." _Especially after last night's encounter with Darien, not to mention how he invaded all of my dreams last night. Causing me to lose massive amounts of sleep. All I want is to be left alone right now and get Darien out of my mind!_

"Well aren't we nice today Serena" Raye says, coming in from the adjacent living room where she had decided to watch television while I was in the shower. "Why don't you apologize to Mina and stop being such a bitch?"

I just glared at Raye, and muttered "sorry" to Mina as she hesitantly placed a plate of food down in front of me. She pulled up a chair next to me and sat down with me. At first I just looked at the food, then grabbed a fork and a knife, and neatly started to eat.

"Holy shit, has Serena caught some kind of disease Mina? She was just fine yesterday at work," Raye said in mock panic, running over to me and putting a hand on my forehead. "Nope – doesn't feel hot. You like Mina's cooking, so why aren't you gobbling it down face-first like you normally do oinker?" She sat down in the chair on my other side and smiled at me.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "Raye if you weren't my employer, you wouldn't believe the nasty things that I would say to you right now."

"Lighten up Serena, take a joke or something – you're so lame today. Where's the cheerful Serena that we know and love?"

_She was killed last night by an egotistical male employee of yours named Darien. _

Despite my thoughts concerning the subject of what happened to my regular cheerful self I realized that Raye was obviously concerned, maybe almost as much as Mina. Although I must admit that Raye is a hard ass about 97 of the time, she can really be a nice and caring friend – and not just because she's boning my sister.

"If you really want to know…" I said, looking up from my plate, Mina looked into my eyes, which was her way of studying me, and Raye was practically in my face with her elbows in the table. "I just haven't felt good since last night – it was a lousy day for me that's all."

Raye laid her head down on the table, then quickly looked up at me – disgusted, "that's it? That's the only reason why you're miss doom and gloom today?"

"Yep."

"Come on now Serena, I'm sure that it's something more than that-" Mina started, trying to get it out of me. _The last thing that I want to do today is reflect on Darien even more. I can't get him out of my head…and you two talking about him, and how I should handle the situation would just make it worse._

"I don't want to talk about it okay? Can we just drop the subject? Raye's right – I need to cheer up before work…no one will want to be served by an unhappy bartender…but for now just let me wallow in my misery. Okay?"

Raye and Mina looked at each other from across the table – they have this secret look sometimes, which I've been trying to decipher for the longest time. The only thing that I know for sure about "the look" is that sometimes it means that one of them has an idea – and they're establishing that lovey-dovey personal connection that they have to "channel" the idea to one another.

"Serena, how about we go shopping tomorrow? I really could use a new purse – my bag is suffering through wear and tear, especially since I put no effort into trying to weather-proof it." Mina said, a little twinkle in her eye.

"Yeah, that's a great idea Mina – I heard that there's a sale going on too – 25 off. Plus tomorrow's Sunday and the club is closed on Sundays." Raye added, smiling at her partner.

"Look I know what you guys are up to. Normally I would say – no way, but you know what I do need a little pick me up. So let's go shopping tomorrow." I said – feeling as if shopping might be able to take everything off of my mind.

"Sweet! We'll leave at 10:30 in the morning, and of course – invite all the friends that you want. I'm sure that you have a couple of friends from work that you'd like to bring along?" Mina asked me, and I nodded – I could always ask Lita and Amy – both of whom I thought should get out more. Lita always seemed to be in the kitchen and Amy is super shy, so it would be a wonderful idea to have a friendly outing with everyone. "I'll call my friend Trista – I'm sure that she'll love to come as well." Mina said, noticing the small smile on my face.

"Trista? Who's that?" Raye asked, a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Oh Raye – I'm sure that I told you about Trista before. She was my roommate in college and she's a physicist. She also makes all of her own clothes because she always wanted to be a fashion designer. Trista even made an outfit for me once. I know that I've told you about her."

"But isn't she a lesbian too – didn't you two have a little thing going on…" Raye's right eyebrow was dangerously arched, and a somewhat angry look was displayed on her face.

"Raye I just told you that she was the first person that I had a little something – something with, and it was my first time being out and open when I was in college. It didn't mean anything, we're plutonic now – just friends." The next thing I knew – Mina was standing up, glaring at Raye.

"What's your definition of a little something-something Mina?" That's when Raye stood up too. At this point I decided that this was one lover's quarrel that I don't want to take part in – Raye looked like she was literally on fire because of how angry she was. Mina seemed to be shooting daggers at Raye. I did not want to be inadvertently dragged into this – especially since I had barely gotten out of my bad mood. I quickly rose from my chair, and got my bag – which I had taken downstairs with me earlier.

"Well it's been lovely you two, but you know what I'm going to go head out for work early today."

"Hey that's a really great idea Serena – especially since it's Saturday and you know what that means, the club opens a whole hour early. I need you dressed and ready by 4pm – we're opening at 5 tonight." Raye said – completely forgetting about Mina's mention of Trista, which was great because I know that Mina's definition of "something-something" most of the time relates to at least oral sex. Raye would not exactly be thrilled with the idea of Mina's head between another woman's legs – much less anything else that I remember Mina talking about when she was with Trista during college.

"All right then bye, and thanks for cheering me up girls." I said smiling at the two lovers – who seemed to forget that they were even fighting. I waved goodbye and closed the door behind me, and walked to my car. As I drove to the club, I couldn't help but get a bit more cheery, I sang along with my favorite songs on the radio – and enjoyed myself. Once I got to the club it was about 3:25pm. I took out the keys that Raye had given to me when we were walking around the club yesterday, and opened the door.

"Uhhnnnn, oh!"

_What the hell?_

"oooohhh"

_That really sounds like moaning, someone might be in trouble – I better go check! _So I bravely braced myself to find the person – who could be on the verge of death, and attempt to save his or her life. The sound was coming from the women's dressing room – or it could have been the women's dressing room bathroom. I cautiously opened the dressing room door and turned on the lights, there was no one there. I dropped my bag with my change of clothes and makeup on a chair. The moaning was getting louder the closer that I got to the women's dressing room bathroom. I opened the door, bracing myself for a gory sight and turned on the light.

"Are you…oh-kay? Umm, sorry for the interruption." I immediately said as soon as the lights came on. My face felt flushed and hot, I knew that I was blushing and who wouldn't be – right in front of my face were Michelle, and some guy whom I didn't know. They had positioned themselves on one of the comfy plush couches in the bathroom waiting room in the very large bathroom (we have a lot of employees – and our bathroom is really nice, like one that you would find in a hotel – which was very nice of Raye). Michelle was naked, and the guy was still wearing his clothes – although his shirt was unbuttoned and flapping loose. I could not see his chest from where I was standing, but judging by his build, I'm sure that he had a nice figure underneath those clothes. The guy had short sandy blond hair and he was kneeling with his head between Michelle's legs - she looked like she was having an orgasm. I quickly closed the door – faster than I had opened it, not really knowing what to do. _Should I run away, yell out that I saw nothing? Wait a minute – why am I blaming myself when they're the ones that are giving me a 'show' in the women's bathroom of all places. _Then I started to wonder how Michelle even got in here, since she doesn't work here. Did Darien give his sister the keys and say "here I don't care who you're fucking – or where for that matter. Go and have at it with your boyfriend, and if you get pregnant it's not my problem!"

"Oh, hello Serena!" Michelle's voice echoed from behind the door. "We didn't think that anyone was in here."

"I just came early for work, um, well – yeah. Uh, by the way, I forgot to thank you for the tip yesterday." I said, moving away from the door. _This is the most awkward conversation that I've ever had in my life._

"You're welcome, it's no trouble at all. Hold on a minute Serena."

"Okay…"

Suddenly the door burst open loudly, I wanted to close my eyes – but couldn't. I stood there frozen as the guy exited the bathroom – with his shirt still open. That's when I realized – he wasn't a guy at all – he was a she! Her breasts were fully exposed in the light of the women's dressing room – her nipples were hard and perky, despite myself I couldn't help but stare.

"Do you want to join us my little kitten?" The mysterious woman asked me in a deeply husky voice, coming closer to me, "Michelle and I have always thought that it would be erotic to have another woman join us. You are very pretty, and I would love to mess up that blonde hair of yours." That's when she pulled off her shirt completely. If I thought that I couldn't move before – then I was wrong, now I was statuesque as the half-naked woman approached me all I could do was barely stammer out a few words.

"N-n-n-no, umm-mum-mum. I-I-I-I…"

"Amara leave Serena alone, I think that she would be more interested in my brother than us – I'm pretty sure that she's straight." Michelle said, coming out from the bathroom – now completely dressed. "At least that's the impression that I get from the way that she stares at my brother. It's too bad though…Amara is right when she says that you're pretty cute Serena." At the sound of her partner's voice Amara grabbed a dress shirt from a bag on the floor and put it on.

I breathed a sigh of relief – and was about to refute Michelle's ridiculous idea that I actually liked Darien, but then Amara had to open her mouth again – and immediately sent me back into shock.

"I could always change your mind," Amara said, starting to make a grab for my breast, but this time I was able to come out of shock just in time to block her hand. "Strong and quick, very sexy, I can't even imagine what you would be like in bed."

"Amara!"

"Sorry, sorry Michelle." Michelle glared at the woman Amara. Amara in response rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry miss, and I apologize for my horrible behavior."

"Much better. I'm sorry Serena, Amara's such a tease" Michelle said, a smirk breaking out on her face, "and now…"

Amara held out her hand to me, "the name is Amara. I work here at Polaris."

"Then how come I've never seen you, I'm a bartender here – and I've been a guest at this club for a long time." I said, somewhat rudely – then glanced at Michelle who was staring at me directly, "I'm Serena by the way, please excuse me."

Michelle smiled, "you probably don't see Amara because she is the limo driver for some of Polaris' guests."

"I get here early to change and then head out to do my job. I get here earlier than everyone else, and I also leave later."

"That's why I'm always at the club – most of the time I'm waiting for her" Michelle said, giving me a wink.

"I didn't know that Polaris had limo service…"

"That's because only VIPs get to use the limo" Amara started, but then Michelle jabbed her in the ribs, "ouch."

"Please excuse Amara's attitude Serena" Michelle said sternly – looking directly at her partner.

Amara casually looked down at her watch, "oh shit! It's so late…" she grabbed her bag – changed her pants, and gave Michelle a quick kiss on the lips. As she headed out the door she called out to me "nice meeting you Serena – I hope that Michelle and I will see more of you later."

Michelle stared at her partner fondly, and waved at Amara as the door closed behind her.

"You really do love her don't you?"

Michelle smiled and giggled lightheartedly at the comment and nodded. "Well I have to get going Serena – once the employees start coming in, I make my exit. I don't want to see my brother…it's weird seeing him come in and walk around in his stripper attire. Seeing Darien dancing around in a so-called banana hammock for strangers really creeps me out – it's out of character for him," she said –mostly to herself. Then she looked at me, "but that's neither here nor there. I have to go – bye Serena." With that Michelle gracefully left the room. Despite the fact that I had just seen her and Amara having a little bit of hanky-panky fun on the couch, I couldn't help but think, _she's so elegant and classy._

"Bye" I replied, reflecting on what she just said as I changed into my work uniform. _Darien – being a stripper is out of character for him? Like I'd ever believe that. Darien works at this job so that way he can show off his body and the women will just flock into his bed, just the way he likes it. Michelle is just another one of his pawns; he probably uses her to light up the "sexy bitches" that he goes after. Well this bitch is going to stay away from his bed with the longest pole she can find!_ As soon as I finished changing, I heard the door open – and there was Raye, dressed and ready to go.

"Hey Serena, you look gorgeous. Definitely an improvement from this morning."

"Thanks, I guess. But I still need to put on my makeup Raye."

"Yeah, but I know that you can do all that in a quick second" Raye smiled at me, "I'm glad that you're feeling better – well at least you seem to be feeling better." I nodded at her in agreement, "good. Serena, I have to ask you something – Mina and I discussed this…"

_Uh-oh, the dreaded words, Mina and I discussed this. I'm in for it now._

"and she told me not to talk to you about it, but I have to get it off my chest. Is this a work-related issue, a love related issue, or a combination or both?"

_Oh shit. How did they get so good at reading me…I mean Mina I could understand by now – but Raye too? Ugh. How am I going to hide this from my own personal paparazzi? _"I don't know what you're talking about Raye…I was just in a pissy mood this morning, that's all. Slept on the wrong side of the bed, you know me."

"Like I believe that – you're bullshitting me Serena and I don't appreciate it." Raye stood in front of the door with her hands on her hips – daring me to lie to her again.

_Damn, damn, damn, damn! Well I'm going to have to avoid spilling the beans somehow. _"Ok you got me Raye, here's the truth my problem is…"

Someone tapped Raye on the back of her shoulder, "Darien! There's my star performer! Wow you're here early." She shouted happily.

_He's here now too, it just gets better and better today doesn't it Serena? _I couldn't see my day getting any worse but it just didI couldn't see him – but just hearing his voice made my blood boil with anger. How dare he come here early and make my day, which had been getting better, worse.

"Hey Raye. Actually I usually try to come early on Saturdays – but most of the time it never works out that way. I always like to relax around here before the show – you know me. Who were you talking to anyway? I could've sworn I heard another voice coming from the room."

"One of the new bartenders – I don't know if you've met before. Serena, have you met Darien, he's one of our highly acclaimed strippers here at Polaris."

"No need for introductions Raye, we've met." Darien said as he appeared in front of my eyes, a neutral expression on his face. _Yes unfortunately we have met_ is what I wanted to say, but I kept the thought to myself as I nodded in agreement with Darien's statement. "Hello there Serena" he said cautiously. "Raye – could you give me a minute with Serena? I really need to talk to her in private."

"Oh sure – no big deal, go ahead" Raye said, an evil grin plastered on her face. Knowing Raye, she would most likely go somewhere where she could still hear the conversation and then grill me about it later. I really wanted Raye to stay – but simultaneously I was slightly intrigued by what Darien wanted to say, so I decided to let him speak. _If he even tries to touch me, I can always kick him in the nuts. Hell I might even kick him in the nuts just for fun. I'd surely get a great laugh out of it._

"About yesterday…"

"I really don't want to hear it. I should just walk out of the room right now." I got up and started to walk towards the door, which he blocked with that muscular body of his.

"Can you please just stop being so damned obstinate and listen to me for just one second?" Darien demanded as I stood there in shock.

_Damn! Maybe I accidentally said that whole thing about kicking him in the nuts out loud. _"I'm listening."

"I don't know what kind of guys that you've dated in the past Serena, but I can assure you that stereotyping me as someone who just wants to get in your pants is not flattering nor is it appreciated. I admit that my behavior last night was a bit inappropriate, but I was just having some fun, joking around – and apparently you can't take a joke. So I apologize for my actions."

_All right, that's over now I can leave after I tell him that I accept his apology, yada yada yada._ "Apology accepted, now I have to…" I tried to leave – but he just kept on standing in front of the door.

"Wait a second, don't be so hasty, I'm not done yet." I just looked up at him in surprise – what else does he want from me? "I was serious yesterday when I told you that I was hoping that you were into men. You see I think that you're really cute Serena."

"And?" I said, rolling my eyes…wherever this was going, I wanted to go in the opposite direction.

He sighed with frustration, "forget it, obviously someone doesn't want to be bothered today. See ya meatball head." Darien gave me a curt smile and quickly turned on his heal – then left.

"Meatball head? What the hell? Darien you come back here right now – I am not a meatball head!" _Did Raye tell him to call me meatball head? Great just great._ I tried to run after him. I looked outside the door for Darien and didn't see him- it was as if he had vanished into thin air. I quickly gave up on trying to find him and decided to go sit down and do my makeup before the dressing room got crowded. _What just happened? Was Darien trying to ask me out? Nah – but even if he was, does he really think that I'd go out with him? Although he says that he's not that kind of guy, I wouldn't put it past him to make me a roofie cocktail while we're on a date. So yesterday was his way of innocently flirting with me? Flirting – ha, flirting my ass! It's just like I thought, he's bad news and that's why I'm not going to go out with him, no matter what he does. _The next thing I know – the cavalry comes into the room in the form of who else but Raye. I saw her reflection in the mirror as I was applying my mascara.

"What was that all about Serena?"

"Nothing Raye."

"Nothing huh? Well then how come I don't believe you?"

"Because you refuse to believe the obvious – and decide to make up ludicrous stories using your imagination."

"Actually that sounds more like you meatball head" she replied, really emphasizing the words meatball head. _Damn her, she definitely heard it all._ Unfortunately I had temporarily run out of insults, so I glared at her through the mirror while I continued to put on my makeup. "I know what you're thinking Serena – yes I heard every word. Could it be that our "business man" Darien seems to get you hot and bothered? I wouldn't blame you, he's a nice guy with a nice body – if you like men anyway. You know he was flirting with you right Serena? Why didn't you just jump on the opportunity and go out with him? You're single after all."

"He's an asshole Raye, I'm not interested. Besides my love life is fine right now – I'm actually enjoying being single."

"You and I both know that that's a lie – especially since you're going to your own sister, the matchmaker might I add, to make a personal video file."

_Well she got me on that one._ "All right, so maybe I'm not happy being single. But Darien just isn't my type – I mean he's a stripper."

"So?"

I got up from my seat and walked toward Raye, a little bit peeved. "Raye strippers are dirty people."

"Serena! You want to tell me this here of all places!"

"I know Raye, but no one's really here yet – besides Darien, but he left already. Just let me finish all right?"

Raye nodded at me to continue, despite the frown on her face. "Anyway, who knows what kind of diseases he has from all the people that he's slept with? I'm not naïve Raye, I've been to strip shows before. I mean I'm a bartender – I work along with strippers. I know the way that they think, I've seen that lustful look in their eyes. They turn into animals once they are on that stage taking off their clothes – you know it as well as I do Raye. I've seen it before from behind and outside of the bar. While they're performing, they search the crowd for a woman that they think is pretty enough, and then they take her home. Those kinds of men go home with a different woman every night. It would be too heartbreaking for me to go through that again, I don't need another Seiya in my life Raye." I concluded, a grim frown on my face.

Seiya was my last boyfriend he's a singer who is starting to really hit it big. I can barely go anywhere nowadays without seeing his face plastered on a billboard. We went out for three years, the first two of which were wonderful. His songs were all over the radio, and his debut album had yet to come out. At first he was a really sweet guy, fun, easygoing, and was always able to bring a smile to my face. But his fame changed him completely into this horrible monster, one that was all too familiar to me – a liar and a cheat. Before Seiya, I had dated many of those types of men, I thought that he was different, but I was wrong. "I never want to experience another Seiya as long as I live Raye, which is why I asked Mina to help me change my love life once and for all."

"I didn't know it was that serious Serena. I mean Mina did tell me about your relationship with Seiya and what a jackass he was – but I didn't think that you equated all strippers to be like him?"

"Not just strippers Raye, a lot of men out there are like Seiya. Seiya wasn't even a stripper himself - he was a singer. It seems like all men who are in the public eye have a problem with staying faithful to one woman. I don't need another heartbreaker walking into my life – and Darien fits the mold to a tee."

"All I'm saying is give Darien a chance Serena, you might be pleasantly surprised. Not every stripper is a sex-crazed animal."

That's when everyone else started showing up for work. I left the conversation at that and told Raye that I would elaborate on it more later, Raye went out to the front to go and turn the lights on and start setting up for the busy day ahead. Raye had become like a sister to me, and since Raye and my sister had been together for a few years, I guess it was only natural. Lita walked into the dressing room as I was putting the finishing touches on my makeup.

"Hey Lita."

"Hey Serena, how's it going?"

"Great. Hey I was wondering if you'd like to go shopping with me, Raye, my sister Mina and a few other girls?"

"Sounds great to me, I haven't gone out in a while and it'd be nice to meet some new friends. So I'll be there, what time do you want to go?"

"Mina said that we're leaving from my house at 10:30."

"Do you want me to meet you at the mall?"

"Yeah, meet us at the mall, and I'll give you my number so that way you can call me when you get there."

"Okay, hold on a second Serena," Lita said while she dug in her purse for her phone, "all right, give it to me" she said as she pulled out her phone. I gave her my number and she typed it into her address book on her phone. "Gotcha, well thanks a lot for the invite Serena, I'm excited. I better get dressed though – maybe I'll see you tonight, that is if I work at the bar. If not then there's always Monday, I picked station number 20 for the nights that I work the bar."

"That's the station next to mine!"

"Yeah. I specially requested it. Let's just say that the head bartender and I are great pals."

"She likes good cooking as much as I do doesn't she?" Lita nodded and smiled. "A girl after my own heart. All right, well I'll let you get dressed." I walked out of the dressing room and into the club. _So far my day has been horrible, and there's no way that it could possibly get worse. _

The time for the club to open came rather quickly. All the rest of the bartenders, cooks, waiters, and strippers – or entertainers as they prefer to be called, poured in seemingly at the last second. I was already waiting at my station for Polaris to open its doors to the public, and once it did – I was close to being in over my head. Customers poured onto and off of the barstools at my station in the blink of an eye.

Around 7:30pm, Amy came into the bar. "What a coincidence. Hello again Amy."

"Hi Serena. I decided to come by again and say hello. I had nothing else to do and I don't want to be bored on a Saturday night."

"Don't you have to go to work Amy?"

"I'm on the morning shifts everyday except for Sundays – then I come in during the late afternoons. I only get called in at night if it's a real emergency. So how's your night been going so far?"

"Stressful, but I can handle it. Say, how do you feel about going shopping tomorrow? We were thinking of leaving at 10:30 to go to the mall."

"We?"

"Oh sorry, Mina, her girlfriend Raye, me, and a few other people."

"Sounds like fun, I'll be there as long as I don't get called in." Suddenly a loud buzzing noise came from Amy's waist. "Ah – emergency, guess that means that I better get going, I'll see you later Serena." With that Amy left without ordering a drink – which of course was a good thing. My night was going fine at this point, I had completely forgotten the events of this morning and last night; I had no complaints, until a sickeningly familiar voice permeated the air.

"Yo! Barkeep, give me your strongest drink, and keep those nice hooters bouncing while you're at it." My back was turned to the man– but if I remembered the body that the voice belonged to correctly, it would be better if I didn't turn around. "Hey chick – I said I need a drink. Move that tight ass or I'll take my business elsewhere." I spun around – angrily, and to my dismay I was right on the money with my prediction of whom the voice belonged to. The long black – almost blue hair, devilish blue eyes, and a confident smirk – it could only be my ex, Seiya. The last person that I wanted to see today, if I had to choose between his company or Darien's, I'd definitely pick Darien hands down. "Oh-ho! Look who it is, why hello Serena. I didn't know that they let little sluts like you into Polaris."

"Seiya – you better change your tone, and learn how to address a lady, or else I'll have the bouncers on your ass quicker than you can blink."

"I don't mean any harm baby doll, you know me." Seiya replied, his eyes fixated on my breasts, then when he noticed that I was staring at him, he looked into my eyes. "Actually, I was just thinking about you the other day."

"Oh really."

"Yeah, the truth is sweetheart – I want you back. I heard that you were working here, and I want to kiss and make up."

"I don't believe your bullshit Seiya, and even if I did, I'm not interested."

"Oh come on Ser"

"Don't you call me that – only loved ones can call me by my nickname."

"Ok Serena, my angel, my sweetheart. Just hear me out on something, please?"

"You have until you pay me for your drink." That's when I grabbed the nearest – and strongest bottle of alcohol and poured a few shots into a clean cup.

"Thank you baby. Honestly, you know that whole thing with that girl – whatever her name was, it wasn't what you thought. You just happened to walk in at the wrong time."

"You consider the wrong time to be when I walked in and you were already inside of her?"

"Yeah – no! Seriously, I wasn't having sex with her."

"Then what were you doing when she was screaming "I'm going to cum Seiya" – you obviously weren't giving her and the rest of her bachelorette party a private concert at an 'undisclosed location.' Seems to me that you wanted to give her a 'special screening of your new album' – in the apartment that we shared, on the bed where we slept together."

"Serena, it's not like being a rising singing super star is an easy job. I've got to climb my way to the top."

"By sleeping with as many women as you can?" By this time I had finished making the drink, "that will be $20."

"Baby, all of that is in the past – I'm not like that anymore, I've changed. Come on get back with me. Remember all the great times that we had – about all the orgasms that you had while I was thrusting my manhood inside of you?"

"Give me your $20 dollars and then get the fuck away from me before I have you thrown out on the curb like the trash that you are."

"Fine" Seiya replied, pulling out his wallet, taking out a 20-dollar bill, crumpling it – and then throwing it at my breasts. "I'm sure that it took a whole lot of these to make those knockers bigger – I'm just helping you out for your next operation." I growled at him, he winked at me, and leaned as close as he possibly could to me. "If you ever change your mind, I'll be hard and waiting pussycat." With that he left – and went straight to the dance floor, where he quickly found a bimbo with huge breasts to freak dance with. He made sure that I could see him from my station, dancing as close to the edge of the dance floor as he possibly could.

Seiya was grinding hard against the girl and touching almost every part of her body that he could. At this point I couldn't hold onto my strong demeanor anymore, before the next customer could ever sit in the barstool, I ran to the head bartender and asked her if I could take a bathroom break. She nodded her head yes, and put up a little "closed temporarily" sign on the bar right in front of my station. I ran to the employee bathroom as fast as I could, tears and mascara running down my face. _Damn it Serena, you should have bought that waterproof mascara_. I don't even know how much time passed as I sobbed, looking down into the bathroom sink. Eventually the bathroom door opened, and through the mirror I saw the reflection of a nice looking woman with long white hair. From the moment that she came in, she was blatantly staring at me as I heaved and coughed while I cried.

"I saw you talking to that jerk while I was on the pole," were the first words out of her mouth. I turned around to look at her in shock.

_Why would she – a stripper of all people, be paying attention to me – when there is a sea of people waiting for her to take off her top?_

"Some words of wisdom, don't ever let an asshole like that control you," she said to me with a disgusted look on her face. "People like him aren't worth the time and effort. Come on, let me help you – let's get you cleaned up. I would die if I went out there looking the way that you do right now – you look a mess with mascara running down your cheeks." Then she grabbed my hand and dragged me to her station – and this woman had a pretty strong grip. I plopped down into my seat, staring at her in disbelief. She pulled up a chair adjacent to mine and sat down, studying my face while deciding what she needed to fix. "What's your name?" She asked as she grabbed her makeup kit and took out a few makeup remover pads.

"Serena" I replied as she cleaned my face with the pads.

"Where is your makeup bag?"

"O-o-over…"

"Just point if you can't choke the words out."

I pointed to my bag – and the woman grabbed it, searched for my makeup kit, found it, and took out some foundation and mascara. As she talked to me, she fixed my makeup. "On stage they call me Yasmine, but my real name is Yaten." She quickly finished my makeup, and gave me a charming smile, "much better now Serena."

"Thank you," I replied as Yaten began to remove her makeup. Yaten looked considerably different without makeup – more masculine, which I found to be somewhat peculiar.

"It's no problem at all," she replied, "ah I can't wait to get these clothes off after I'm finished. So how do you know that guy anyway?" Yaten asked and as I told her the whole story of how Seiya and I met – and how he cheated on me, she started taking off her clothing. First she removed her sexy top, then the bra, which was when I realized that Yaten wasn't a girl at all – he was a boy that dressed in drag! I couldn't help but stare, this was the second time today that I had confused someone's gender and it was really starting to bug me. "What's wrong?" Yaten asked, staring at me, "oh – ha, you didn't know did you?" He started laughing, "I can't believe that no one told you. Some of the guys here dress in drag to appeal to women with kinky fetishes – and of course gay men who might enjoy the site of an obvious man in drag. Apparently I'm not so obvious then?" By that time Yaten was on the ground laughing.

"Well it's not like it's really apparent – I mean you make a very attractive woman, I never thought that you were a man. You kind of have a girly voice too – no offense or anything."

Yaten continued to laugh – mustering out a "no problem" while I, very flustered at this point, tried to make excuses as to why I never noticed that he was a man.

The door opened and in popped Raye, apparently the head bartender had told her that something was wrong with me. "Is everything all right in here?" Raye noticed Yaten, who was still laughing – until he saw her, and then he straightened up really quickly. She looked over at me with a gentle smile, "Serena – I saw Seiya in the bar tonight and I had him kicked out of Polaris, hopefully he'll never come back" she looked at Yaten again then decided to change the subject. "I see that you've met Yaten. My guess is that you didn't know that he was male right?"

"Yeah, is it that obvious?" I asked, Raye nodded. _Geez this is so embarrassing. _"Well anyway, don't worry about me Raye – I feel better now, plus I told Yaten all about it. He's a really nice guy. Thank you for helping me out Yaten, now if you excuse me – I have a bar to tend to. I've been away from my station for too long tonight."

"Are you sure that you're going to be all right?" Raye asked me, once again concerned about my condition.

"Yep, I'm completely fine now." Which of course was a lie, but I had to do something to get my mind off of this horrible day, and going back to work would occupy my mind for a while. I got up, waved goodbye to Yaten and Raye, and walked out of the room – back towards the bar. As the "witching hour" approached, more people started to pour into the bar in droves. I was getting a bit tired, but I decided to hang in there – I could always leave a bit early if I got too tired, Raye probably wouldn't kill me over it. The night was really starting to heat up as the most popular stripping acts took to the stage. Familiar music started to play, and as the DJ announced "the business man," Darien took to the stage for the first time. Against my better judgment, I decided to sneak peaks at his performance while I was pouring drinks for the people lined up at my station, as well as send drinks to the waiters awaiting at the other side of the bar.

When Darien came onstage all the women and gay men in the house started screaming things like: "Darien I love you!" "Take it all off Darien, I want to see every inch of you!" "I want to have your babies!" Someone even tried to propose to Darien while he was on the stage. Even I was slightly intrigued by Darien's behavior while he was performing. He tore his shirt into shreds like it was a piece of paper. Next his pants came off, and there he stood – almost completely naked with only a thong to cover his genitals. _Damn he has a nice ass. Wait a minute, what the hell am I thinking! I'm not attracted to him. _

Darien stood on the edge of the stage, the area with no nearby poles, and he was gyrating up and down to the right and left. He practically glided down to the floor, and started to imitate sex with the stage. Darien was thrusting on top of the stage, his ass and lower back muscles tightening with every thrust. I watched him move back and forth on the stage, _who the hell wouldn't get turned on by that? I might be indifferent to Darien, but any woman would love to be made love to like that. I give him credit; the man knows what he's doing._ It seemed to go on forever, and he was so enchanting that I couldn't keep my eyes off of him; I even over-poured a few drinks. But I still got the drinks to the customers who ordered them – despite my inability to look them in the eye most of the time; I was completely fixated on Darien. A few girls fainted; some men were holding out there hands, seeing if they could touch Darien – any piece of him. Next another stripper brought a microphone and a chair onto the stage; he placed the chair right behind Darien and put the microphone in the seat of the chair. While I was watching, Darien looked up directly at me. Once he caught me staring at him, he started smiling, and then he stood up. He picked up the microphone from the seat of the chair.

_Oh shit, this can't be good. _

"Well ladies and gentlemen, it's Saturday, and you know what that means. Today is the day where some lucky person is picked to sit in this chair, and get a special dance from me." There were screams of approval coming from the audience. "Now normally you know what happens is that everyone gets a number, and Raye, one of the owners of Polaris, picks a number using a random number generator. The person whose number correlates to the number that Raye picks gets a dance from me, that's the way that we normally do it. Tonight is going to be a bit different." The crowd immediately hushed, focusing on every word that Darien said, their eyes fixated on him. "Tonight, it's men's choice, and I already have someone special in mind whom I want to give a dance to. I had to ask a lot of people if I could get permission to do this, and they granted it to me. So without further ado the person that I choose is…"

_Well I guess that means he's not available anymore, thanks anyway though Michelle, not that I was ever interested. Wait until I get to rub it in Raye's face that she was wrong. Darien wasn't flirting with me, like that would ever happen! Apparently I was right though – new woman every night…_

"That beautiful blonde that probably made a few of your drinks tonight, Serena." A few people moaned and groaned out their frustrations that it wasn't them that Darien had picked and left. But a decent amount of Darien's crowd stayed to either just see who I was – either that or they were voyeuristic, which was something that Darien might not mind, but I do.

_Hell no! I'm not going up there – no way. I'm comfortable at the bar – I'm not deserting my post to make him happy. Besides the head bartender would never let me leave for a frivolous reason like that._

"Well you heard the man Serena," the head bartender said to me. "Get up there and sit in his chair."

"Seriously?" She nodded at me. "You're joking right – I have my job to do, and I don't want to go up there. I have stage fright…"

"I don't want to hear it Serena, get up there – the man wants you."

_What happened to all the sympathy that she had for me earlier? I guess it went out the window. Maybe she thinks that this will make me happy or something – more like ruin my life. Fuck _was the only word that I could think of as I reluctantly dragged my ass from the bar to the stage. Lita had heard my name being called from the kitchen and came outside to yell, "go Serena!" I felt like I was being sent to the electric chair, in my head I could hear the words "_dead girl walking_." Finally, I made it to the stage, where Darien gave me a sweet smile. The microphone had already been given to the same male stripper who brought out the chair.

"What took you so long blondie?"

"I'll appease you today Darien" I replied through gritted teeth, and plopped my ass into his chair.

"I know that you'll like it Serena, don't be so uptight. Let me take control, just enjoy yourself." Darien quickly sat me down on the chair. I gripped the armrests tightly as I braced myself for Darien. He gave me another smile after noticing my grip, "don't worry Serena I'll be gentle."

Darien started by lightly touching my face. Then he got closer, he was only a few inches away from me – and I almost fainted when I saw his manly physique up close. He started touching himself, first his abs, his thighs, then his package. I wanted to cover my eyes, I wanted to scream – but I just sat there simply fascinated by Darien's physique and the way that he carried himself on stage. _Maybe this isn't so bad after all._ He was so sexual and sensual with me as he started to get more into giving me a semi-private dance. In my own mind there was no one there, just Darien and I, as he started to touch me while he gyrated next to my face. The way that he moved his hips, it was almost poetic.

_I'm actually starting to like this a little…no Serena, don't fall into his trap! Darien is another Seiya – in fact ten times worse than Seiya. I mean sure he's nicer than Seiya, and a lot more attractive, not to mention that he has such a nice ass. Maybe I could learn to like Darien. _No other stripper had ever captivated me as much as he had. His movements were snake-like, I had never seen such flexibility in a man before, I was absolutely mesmerized by Darien's stage presence, as he started to kiss my neck. That's when I felt it; he was leaning into me while his body was pressing into mine, and something hard was against my shoulder, while he continued to kiss my neck. _Darien's actually aroused by all of this. Wow, I don't know whether to be flattered or disgusted. This is actually kind of nice…the way that he gently caresses my cheek. The way that his lips feel on my neck. Could it be that I'm actually enjoying this? _He moved his mouth towards my ear, "if you let me – I could be the one – I could be all yours." _That was sweet- I didn't know that Darien was capable of such words._

I looked into his crystal blue eyes; he seemed to be telling the truth, but how could I be sure? He kissed my lips, while we were onstage despite cries of outrage and despair, as well as catcalls from the audience. The magic of the moment disappeared into reality the second that his lips touched mine. _Who the hell does he think he is? He has no right to kiss me! Darien doesn't know my history and he doesn't know me! I already told Darien that I don't date guys like him anymore – and I guess that I'm going to have to re-state the point. I refuse to be hurt again by someone like him, no matter how attractive he is and how enticing that body of his is. I don't want this – and I don't want him, he's a playboy, just like all of those other guys who perform for women. Never again will I let an asshole control my emotions! _I pushed him away from me and stood up quickly, knocking the chair down.

"Serena, what the hell? I thought that you were enjoying this." _That's it._ With that I slapped him across the face, he stared at me in shock. It seemed as if the entire club had gone quiet. _Okay maybe I did go a little far with the slap, but he deserved it._ I quickly ran off the stage. Some of the audience members cheered, a few booed, but I didn't care. I went back to my bar station, sure it's not what most people would do – but honestly the employees' dressing rooms weren't a great place to hide either, as I had found out earlier.

"Are you all right?" The head bartender asked me. I shook my head yes. "Seems like something went on up there that most of us didn't see, what did he do to hurt you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it if it's okay."

"Fine by me. You know, it's almost closing time, why don't you go home? Get a rest, especially since Polaris is closed tomorrow. You've had a really stressful day, and I don't want you to get too stressed out. You're a great bartender, and the customers always have great things to say about you, I think that Raye would agree with me that we wouldn't want to loose you."

"Thank you. You know what, I think that I'll take you up on that offer. I've had a pretty bad day, and I just need some real rest and relaxation. So I'll see you on Monday then."

"See you on Monday Serena, enjoy the rest of your weekend."

"I will, thank you again." I quickly went to the backroom to grab my bag and get out, when I noticed a note on the top of my bag. I picked it up and read it.

"Serena, I'm sorry if things got a little bit intense on stage between the two of us. Please excuse my behavior tonight, I got carried away, and I can assure you that it won't happen again. I don't want our relationship to be affected by this; I've really enjoyed getting to know you. Once again, I apologize. I hope that we can still be friends, and that maybe I can make this all up to you. - Darien."

On the way home my mind kept on drifting towards the dance and the note that Darien had given me. Maybe Raye was right – maybe I should give him a chance. _I guess that he's not completely like Seiya, he apologized for being a jerk. The least that I can do is try to be friends with him, what harm could that do? _After I got home, I put on my favorite bunny pjs, climbed into bed, and shut off my light. I had had a horrible day – and I couldn't wait to get to dreamland, where everything was all right, and Darien…well between you and me, tonight he was the prince in my Cinderella-esque dream. Who would have thought it?

Another author's note (author's end note so to speak): All right – well that was really long, sorry about all of that. Please review. I hope that you guys really liked chapter two. I'm already working on chapter three, but I don't know when it will be done…hopefully I'll have it up by Wednesday (the 4th of July). Thanks all.


	3. Shopping, a Secret Admirer, and Luminary

Author's note: I do not own Sailor Moon – the usual disclaimer. In this chapter you're going to see some interesting pairings. I still won't have all of the characters by the end of this chapter – but I'm getting closer. Anyway enough of my babble – on with the story.

**Chapter Three: Shopping, a Secret Admirer, and Luminary**

I awoke from my peaceful dreams at 9:00 am. Despite the fact that Darien had, once again, been the main focus of my dreams, last night he had turned into the man of my dreams. _Sure that will never happen in real life, but it was a nice dream nevertheless. _I stretched and yawned, then decided it was time to face the new day. Finally it was the day of our shopping trip. I could hardly wait; I practically flew into the bathroom to do my morning rituals. "Morning Mina and Raye!" I yelled out to them as I was emerging from the bathroom, completely dressed in my favorite shopping outfit, which consisted of a sugar pink tank top, and blue jeans, ready to go. When I didn't get a response, I banged on their door loudly. "I said good morning! Don't you remember what today is? Come on, get your asses up – it's almost time to go shopping."

"All right, all right"…Mina said, groggily coming out of the room she shared with Raye. "I'm going to go and take a shower and get ready to go…Raye's downstairs already Serena."

"Okay, well I'll go downstairs, get some breakfast – and wait for you." I replied as I ran down the stairs happily. _Today is actually going to be a pretty good day I think – after yesterday how could it possibly get any worse?_ "Raye! Good morning!" Raye stood in the kitchen, fully dressed in a red top with a knee-length black skirt – which of course, didn't surprise me since Raye happens to be an early riser, and can survive off of small amounts of sleep. It's insane to me, but she can do it – so more power to her.

"Hi Serena – you're already up and moving this morning."

"Well that's because it's shopping morning Raye!"

"I'm surprised that you're not gloomy like yesterday – especially after what Darien…"

"Nope!" I replied cutting her off "couldn't be better. Yesterday was pretty much the worst day of my life, and since it can't get worse – I've got a new attitude today."

"Well that's awesome Serena, glad to hear it. Now all we have to do is wait for Mina to wake up with a nice shower, and hopefully she won't use all of the hot water." Raye drifted off slowly into her own little daydream world.

"Raye, I would never want to think about this myself – because it's disgusting since Mina is my sister – but are you having sexual fantasies about my sister in the shower?"

Raye was caught off guard and blushed, "is it that obvious?"

"Uh yeah Raye it is, it's obvious that Mina's constantly on your mind." I replied.

"Did someone say my name?" Mina asked as she came downstairs in her favorite yellow sundress.

"Yeah – Raye was just sexually fantasizing about you in the shower, probably thinking about joining you if she hadn't already taken one herself." I replied, looking at Raye and getting prepared for the sudden outburst.

"Serena! How could you tell Mina that!"

"Well that cat's out of the bag now. Besides, I thought that you two were super open about every aspect in your relationship" I teased.

"Well we are – but sometimes I do have secret, um, desires and fantasies that I might not feel comfortable telling Mina yet!" Raye said through gritted teeth.

"Ladies, ladies, no need to do this all for the sake of your beloved sister and lover." Mina said, gushing – she loves being complimented. That's when the doorbell rang. "That must be Trista, I'll go get it!"

"Huh?" Raye said aloud, "who did you say Mina?"

But it was too late for Raye to get angry, Mina opened the door and Trista was at the doorstep smiling at Mina. "Trista! I'm so glad that you could come, how are you? It seems like we haven't talked in ages!" Mina said, giving Trista a big hug.

"May I come in Mina?"

"Of course Trista, of course. Here, let me do some introductions. The blonde over there is Serena – my sister, I think that you remember her right? Well you can obviously tell that we're sisters I mean blonde hair, blue eyes, you know the drill." Mina was a bit too excited – and Raye noticed it.

_This is going to be an interesting day_, "Hi Trista, nice seeing you again." I said, giving her a little wave.

"And here we have my lovely girlfriend Raye, my raven-haired goddess, the one who can always spark a flame in my heart." Mina continued, noticing Raye's anger and using flattery to at least try to get her someplace. I guess it was working because Raye was lightening up a bit – and I don't know Raye to be one who fakes her emotions. She's a very blunt person, if she doesn't like you, then she'll tell you. Thank heaven that she never grilled me about the specifics on their relationship.

"Nice to meet you Raye, I'm Trista…"

"I know, Mina has told me so much about you. You guys were college roommates?" Raye asked in an inquisitive tone, and if I knew that tone, that meant trouble.

"Why yes, we were. I hope that my being here doesn't make you feel threatened or anything Raye – I might be single but Mina and I are just friends now." Trista said casually, it was as if she read Raye's mind.

"Oh well, would you look at the time – it's 10:20, who's driving?" I asked, the conversation needed to be changed as quickly as possible to prevent a potential catfight. Mina might not mind, hell she might even think that it's adorable – but I do not want to have to pull apart the two women if they were going to fight. Trista was tall and looked like she had a nice build – so getting punched by her might be fatal to my frail body. As for Raye, she's wearing high heals, and she's known to fight with her shoes, so getting my eye poked out when I'm trying to find my soul mate is not my ideal situation.

"Serena why don't you drive?" Mina asked inquisitively. I pictured the situation in my head, I would be the only person sitting in the front – so not only would I look like a chauffer, but that would also create a disaster in the back seat. Mina would be sitting in between Trista and Raye. Raye constantly eying Trista to see if she even touches Mina, which would ultimately lead to a fight in the backseat. Objects start flying from the back of my car to the front, and I – while driving, would try to calm them down and get hit in the back of the head with a compact mirror. That was not a pretty picture, so based on my standards it would not happen.

"You know what Mina – I'm not up for it, how about you drive?"

"Sounds good to me – unless there are any other offers? Mina looked from Raye to Trista. Neither of them offered to drive, so Mina grabbed her car keys. "All right everyone, let's go then." We all hopped into Mina's brand new Lincoln MKZ, the color was a nice golden yellow, or as they would say in the catalogue, "dune pearl." It has a nice roomy interior, and I happily took my seat next to Trista. _Thank heaven that Trista is sitting next to me and not in the front seat, Raye would have probably burst an artery if Trista had even tried to sit in 'her seat.'_

"So window shopping first and then we decide if we want to buy anything, right girls?" Mina declared as she started the car.

"Yeah! Let's go!" I said a bit too loudly, but I was hoping to try to clear some of the unseen tension from the atmosphere. Ten minutes later we reached the mall. "10:30 on the dot, way to go Mina."

"All right let's get to shopping ladies" Raye said happily as she got out of the car.

"I need to wait for my friends Raye!" I said as I slammed the car door after I got out of the car.

"Hey watch the door Serena! Don't slam it so hard" Mina whined as she and Trista got out of the car. "I just got this car like two weeks ago" she continued to complain as we headed out of the parking lot and went towards the mall entrance. We decided that it would be a good idea to wait for my friends there instead of waiting outside.

"Who knows what kind of perverts could be lurking outside" Raye said as she opened the door to the mall entrance.

"There are plenty of perverts inside as well too Raye, believe me I know, some of them are clients of mine that work here. Speaking of clients, there's one of mine now – Amy." Mina said to us as we stood, waiting for Lita and Amy. I waved at Amy once she saw us, getting her to come join us. "Why hello Amy, how are you?" Mina asked her blue-haired client as she entered the mall.

"I'm fine thanks." Amy stared at everyone shyly.

"Oh introductions. Of course you know my sister Mina."

"I can see the resemblance." Amy commented, a shy smile creeping onto her face.

"This is Raye – one of the owners of Polaris, you might have met her before. The lovely tall emerald-haired woman standing here next to me is Trista." Raye gave Amy a small wave hello; Amy nodded back to her with a smile.

"How do you do Amy?" Trista asked with a smile on her face.

Amy blushed heavily, "Fine thank you, nice to meet you."

Just then Lita came in and joined the party, introductions were made once again, and I noticed that Lita was especially fixated on Trista – and then it was time to start shopping. We passed by tons of stores, a cooking store – which Lita practically leaped into, a fabric store, where we had to prevent Trista from completely buying it out, a little karaoke place – where Mina tried, but failed to impress her audience. "Stick to matchmaking Mina" I told her as we left, she sadly agreed.

"I don't understand I'm normally a really great singer!"

"I'm sure that it's just nerves baby," Raye said, trying to cheer Mina up.

Then we went to a bookstore, where Amy spent a decent fifteen minutes trying to decide on an astronomy book or a science fiction novel. We convinced her to get the science fiction novel – mainly because there was a love story in it. We were about to go to a charm store for Raye since she's into collecting charms and fortunes; when all of a sudden Mina's infamous phone rang. Oh, that's right I never talked about her phone before – essentially Mina, like Amy, constantly carries around a phone just in case. Since Mina runs her own matchmaking business, sometimes when there is an overflow of clients, which happens a lot, or if she forgets and appointment her secretary will call her and then Mina will leave the scene like a bat out of hell.

"Ah, duty calls" Mina said, looking down at her caller ID to see who it was. "I'm afraid that I've got to cut this shopping trip short ladies."

"It's 12:15 Mina!" I whined, "how could you possibly have a client right now?"

"Well you know – some people really want my help and who am I to deny their requests? Do you want to come darling?" Mina asked Raye, who nodded and with that we parted ways.

As they left I yelled "don't be too loud ladies, keep it classy!" Raye didn't even bother turning around, she just raised her hand in the air and flipped me off as she and Mina walked away hand in hand.

My stomach was growling unhappily as we passed by what seemed like the millionth clothing store. By this time I had started to notice that Lita and Trista seemed to be getting awfully chummy. Earlier Lita had been subtly– or rather what she thought was stealthily – glancing at Trista, it was so obvious that even I noticed it, and I'm not good at these things, that's Mina's department. They seemed to be in their own little world chatting with each other, occasionally including Amy and I in their conversations so that way we wouldn't feel like outcasts. Once again my stomach growled, and that's when I couldn't take it anymore – _it's 12:30, and I want to eat!_

"Guys, can we go to the food court or something? I'm dying over here."

"Oh sorry Serena, you should have said something. Well since Mina and Raye left – you and Trista don't have a ride, so how about we all go to my place for something to eat?"

"I'm all for it, let's go!" I practically screamed because I was so excited – hunger was paining my stomach.

"I couldn't possibly intrude Lita." Amy said - it was obvious that she didn't want to be a bother.

"Don't worry about it Amy, I don't mind" Lita said with a smile. "How about you Trista?" Lita asked, you could tell that she was hoping Trista would say yes.

She smiled at the brunette, "well I have no where else to go since Mina and Raye left us here – so why not. My stomach was started to grumble as well, and I'm sure that you make good food – I've heard that the cuisine at Polaris is superb. You're the head chef, so I can't go wrong now can I?" A bright red blush crossed Lita's face.

"All right then, let's go get some food at Lita's place. I'll race you to go the car!" I said as I bolted towards the exit. Sure they say no running in the mall – plus I hate running, but when you're me – Serena Love, food is one of the most important things in life, and I would do anything for it. Once I reached the parking lot, with the other girls trailing behind me, I walked with Amy to her car, a very nice blue Mercedes. Lita and Trista got into Lita's green Chevy Cobalt.

"Just follow behind me Amy, it's not that hard to get to my house, but I don't want you to make a wrong turn, otherwise it might take you a while."

"All right," Amy replied, getting into the car. We buckled our seat belts.

"Amy you have such a nice car!" I said aloud, and then regretted it because it was rude, but Amy didn't seem to mind.

"The life of a doctor – great benefits for hard work." Amy said as she started the car, and away we went. On our way there Amy and I engaged in a little small talk. "So Trista and Lita seem to be getting really close." Amy said disappointedly.

"I guess you're right – but that's okay, don't worry about that, you'll find someone too. Mina's great at that." I replied smiling.

"It's too bad though, Trista is very cute. You're right though, I have faith in Mina" she said as we pulled into Lita's driveway.

"That was a quick trip, I didn't know that Lita lived this close to the mall – or our house for that matter." I remarked as we got out of the car.

"Glad that you guys made it," Lita said as she got out of the car and pulled out her house keys. She opened the door for us, and we entered Lita's small – but nice house. It was a very comfy house; plushy sofas and chairs were neatly arranged in the living room I noticed as Lita lead us into the kitchen. "All right then, what should I make? Your wish is my command."

"Hmmm well as long as it doesn't have any eggplant in it, I'm good" Trista said while lightly touching Lita's hand. Lita blushed at the touch; a dreamy smile was plastered on her face.

"I'm not a big fan of carrots" I said – trying to ignore the lovey-dovey women in the room.

"I'll just have a sandwich if that's all right Lita" Amy said.

"I couldn't just make you a sandwich!" Lita said shocked at the mere thought of her making just a simple sandwich.

"I love sandwiches though so it's not a problem" Amy replied.

"Okay I'll try to appease everyone," Lita said as she got to work in the kitchen. She made Amy a couple of tuna fish sandwiches, a bit simple for Lita, but Amy loved them so why not. Lita made me a Polaris special, which consists of pizza and fries. For herself and Trista, she made a large batch of tempura – without any eggplant. "I guess I could also make a dessert, but in the mean time everyone dig in," she said as she started putting ingredients into her mixer.

"Wow Lita, you work so fast, thanks for the food!" I said as I shoveled the pizza and french fries into my mouth. "So what are you making for dessert?"

"Another one of your favorites Serena, cake and ice cream."

"Today sure is my lucky day!" I said happily with my mouth full of half-chewed french fries while everyone laughed. Trista started to subtly flirt with Lita while she was finishing the cake as Amy and I uncomfortably watched and talked amongst ourselves. We noticed that this was quickly starting to become a party for two – and two extra was more company than necessary. That's when Amy's phone rang. "Is it time to get to the hospital?" I asked her gloomily, I really didn't want her to leave me here with Trista and Lita.

"No actually, that's Mina. Please excuse me a second." Amy said as she went to Lita's living room to take the call. Trista and Lita continued to flirt with one another as Lita pulled the cake out of the oven and started to prepare the frosting. About ten minutes later, Amy re-emerged from the living room with some exciting news – well for her at least. "Mina told me that she found someone who she thinks will be perfect for me" Amy let out a little squeal of happiness.

"Really, spill the beans" I said, watching as Lita started to take her homemade frosting and put it on the cake.

"Her name is Hotaru, she's a bit younger than me – 21 years old. Mina said that she's gorgeous and a little shy but very sweet."

"I find it interesting that Mina's setting you up with someone else that's shy – no offense Amy" I said bitterly as Lita continued to frost the cake, and Trista decided to help Lita clean up a bit by washing the used dishes.

"No offense taken Serena, I don't know – I really trust your sister with the matchmaking, after all she is a professional."

"You're right, sounds like you guys might hit it off really well."

"What does she do for a living?" Lita asked as she finished frosting the cake and took out a knife to cut it into slices for all of us. Then she directed Trista to the fridge, where Trista pulled out a tub of vanilla ice cream.

"Apparently she's a nurse at another hospital."

"Wow – doctor and a nurse, that sounds like it could get kinky," Lita said to Amy, who blushed. "So who wants cake and ice cream? I can't keep it here –otherwise I'll eat it all."

"No thanks, I've got to hit the road and get to Mina's office for a quick consultation. She told me that she'd give me more details once I got over there. Then I've got to get to work."

"None for me Lita, but thank you for making such a delicious looking cake."

"Serena? You're my last hope."

"I'll take the cake home with me, Raye and Mina would really enjoy that."

"What about the ice cream?" Lita said sadly. I'm going to turn into a blimp if I eat it all by myself.

"Don't worry Lita – I'll stay here for a while and eat some with you." Trista said with a smile as Lita wrapped up the cake to go.

_Or maybe eat out a certain private part of Lita's_. I took the completely wrapped up cake and headed out with Amy, who offered to drive me home since my car wasn't there. The entire time that we were in the car, Amy was talking about how happy she was that Mina had found her a date – completely forgetting that I was not exactly happy with my current love situation. It wasn't until she stopped in front of my driveway that she remembered that I too was on the prowl.

"I'm so sorry Serena – I really didn't mean to talk about my upcoming date the whole time. I was just excited."

"No problem Amy" I replied with a fake smile plastered on my face. "Thanks for the ride, I'm going to go and watch some tv and just enjoy the rest of my day off. I'll call you later on in the week to see how your date went, and maybe we can hang out again sometime." I got out of the car and gave her a little wave.

"Sounds great." Amy said, happy that I had forgiven her. "Well I should get going, bye Serena," she said as I closed the door.

I miserably dragged myself to the front door of the house and got out my keys while holding the wrapped up cake in my left arm. _Seems like everyone has someone except for me, poor Serena. Will I ever get a date or will I constantly be the spare tire for the rest of my life? Being a third wheel is never charming._ When I arrived at the door I noticed something peculiar. _What the hell is that?_ On my doorstep were five-dozen pink roses. _Hey those are my favorites! I wonder who put them there. They're probably not for me though – another one of those male admirers trying to get Mina to be straight. Like that will ever happen – she loves boobs way too much. _Attached to one group of flowers was a note that said "To: Serena from your secret admirer." _Wow these are for me! I wonder who they're from_. I looked around; there were no unfamiliar cars around or anything. _Maybe this is a prank, it could be Raye's doing but I don't think that she would be this cruel to me. Raye wouldn't kick me when I'm already down – well at least not on this particular matter. If it's not Raye then…it might be a stalker. That's the last thing I need is some creepy stalker guy following me and leaving me notes. He could even be hiding in the bushes right now, staring at me. Or maybe he's at one of my neighbor's houses, looking through the window with binoculars. _With paranoia threatening to take over my brain, I unlocked the door, closed the door and put the cake down. Then I went back outside and grabbed the flowers then hurriedly got back into the house. I made sure to use all the locks on the doors and then I went to the living room – where the curtains were thicker and it's almost impossible to see into the room from the outside. _Maybe I'll watch some tv and it'll keep my mind off of stalker-boy. _I started watching this super cool magical girl cartoon show on television about teenage girls who fight for love and justice. I was really getting into it, and yes at twenty-four years of age I still watch cartoons in case you're wondering, when my cell phone rang. I looked at it in a panic, the caller id said "private." _Ooooo…maybe the stalker has my phone number! Oh shit! Well I guess I should answer it just in case. _

"Hello?" I said timidly.

"Serena?"

"Mina! Oh boy I'm glad that it's you and not a creepy stalker. Why does the number that you called me from say 'private' on my caller id?"

"I'm calling from the office main line – that's why. My cell phone died, I'm recharging it right now. And what did you say about a creepy stalker?"

"Someone dropped off five dozen roses at our front door for me – they were my favorite color too. There was a note attached to it that said 'from your secret admirer.'"

"Oooh, I guess he'll be disappointed then – because I got you a date."

"You did! Hell yeah! Okay, okay, give me details Mina, I want to know right now!"

"Serena you don't have to yell, damn. All right well information about this guy, he's very handsome all the straight girls in the office practically swooned over him. Anyway, head over to the office and I'll tell you more. Amy just left a while ago."

"Score! I'll be there in two shakes." I closed the phone, I've got one of those flip cell phones, grabbed my keys, and got out of the house as quickly as I possibly could. I started the car and gunned it to Mina's office. I was glad that there weren't any cops on the road; otherwise I would've gotten a speeding ticket for sure.

"Ma'am you were going 75 in a 45 zone…" what excuse could I possibly have for that one.

I parked my car in the back like I usually do – Mina owns the office so I knew that she wouldn't tow me for it. I locked the car and ran inside the back entrance, which was the quickest way to Mina's office, especially if you didn't want to be seen. I burst into her office without even knocking because I was so excited. Mina was sitting at her desk, looking up expectantly.

"I was waiting for you – you didn't get here as fast as I thought you would though."

"Enough with the small talk Mina – spill the beans."

"All right, where to start. This guy is 28 years old…"

"Name – I need a name!"

"Well he told me that he didn't want me to reveal his first name to anyone that I tried to set him up with. He's somewhat famous, especially around here so I thought that it was appropriate."

"I guess that's fair, but at least give me a last name Mina!"

"He didn't say anything about not giving out his last name, so I can do that. His name is Mr. Shields."

"Serena Shields – that sounds nice."

"I hope that you don't tell him that on the date and scare him half to death Serena – get to know each other first before you get on one knee and ask him to be the father of your babies. I haven't even told you all the good details yet."

"You're right, continue Mina."

"Anyway, despite the fact that he's handsome, he's insecure about the way he looks and he's also kind of shy. Mr. Shields is a very studious person, an intellectual. Definitely a gentleman, he loves to open doors for women and push in their chairs. He knows how to treat a woman with respect, very kind and gentle. Mr. Shields is soft spoken with a very sexy deep voice; I think that you'll really like him Serena – he's definitely your type. I'm not going to tell you anything else about him."

"Not even anything about the way he looks? What about where he works? Those are important things too Mina!"

"I'm going to let you guys get to know each other starting tonight over dinner at Luminary. Dinner is at 6 and the attire is formal wear."

"Tonight? At Luminary! You did say Luminary, right? How the hell did you get a reservation there? I heard that they're booked for years."

"Oh I have my connections Serena, I just pulled a few strings."

"Do you think that he'll pay for dinner?"

"Serena! Of course he will! He's a gentleman after all."

"Well you never know Mina, I'm just making sure. I'm so nervous already…and I'm not ready, I'd have to go home and get myself ready for the date! It's 3:30 pm Mina – do you know how long it takes me to look decent! Why not next Sunday or something?"

"Calm down Serena. I compared your schedules and today was the best day for the date. You're just going to have to deal Serena – either that or wait until I find you someone else…"

"No Mina! I'll take the date, and I'm going to go home right now and get ready for it."

"All right then, remember 6 o'clock at Luminary, and formal attire. I don't want him to tell me that you showed up in a little black dress either Serena – wear something different. Dress to impress as the saying goes."

"Will do Mina. Thanks so much, you're the best big sister ever!" I told her as I went behind her desk to give her a hug.

"You're welcome," she said as she returned the hug. "Now go!" She released me from the hug and waved goodbye to me as I hustled out the door.

As I was on my way out I passed by Raye who had just come out of the bathroom. "So Serena I heard that you have a hot date tonight."

"You bet I do Raye, but I've got to go back to the house and get ready. I'll talk to you later – I will definitely tell you all about it." I replied as I sped out of the office and back to my car. I only had about an hour and a half to get ready by the time that I got home, I wanted to get to Luminary early - that way I could impress Mr. Shields with my promptness. I hopped in the shower for thirty minutes, using the nicest smelling shower gel that I had. I got out and after a few minutes of indecision, picked my dress – a sexy, but not too conservative blue dress that really brought out my eyes. I put on some dangling ice blue earrings, and then concentrated on my makeup. I gave myself a nice – not too wild smoky eye, a mild red lipstick that won't transfer on to things, but really sucks to take off at night. I also gave myself a light blush and put on some mascara. I checked my watch. _All right it's 5:00. I guess it's about time to go._

I took a nice but small white handbag with me, and donned some white high heals. I checked myself in the mirror one last time, _well you out did yourself this time Serena – if he doesn't like the way that you look, then screw him. _I grabbed my keys, exited the front door of the house, and got into my car. It was 5:05 and I was off. Luminary is about fourty-five minutes away from my house, so without a lot of traffic I could get there at 5:50. Luckily for me there were barely any cars on the way there and the stoplights were treating me nicely by occurring very infrequently. I got there at 5:48, a bit earlier than even I had expected, but I was very happy about it. Luminary is an absolutely gorgeous restaurant; everything was burgundy and gold in color. I told the hostess about my reservation and she seated me at a very romantic and secluded table in the back of the restaurant. She told me that it was one of the tables that they reserve for couples. I felt like a princess and I hadn't even started eating the luxury food yet, nor had I met my new prince – or should I call him my date - because he had yet to arrive. The seats were nice and plushy; they were so comfortable I felt like I could fall asleep in them. Two chairs were set up across from each other with a pretty table that looked like it was made of marble. A few minutes had passed by and I checked the clock on my phone, _5:55 I guess he'll be here soon._ At that very minute the hostess returned with a man behind her. She was almost as tall as the man so I couldn't see his face at first. _This is it; here comes my knight in shinning armor! _That's when the hostess moved away from in front of him and showed him his seat at my table, and then she quickly made her exit. _Hell no, it can't be! There must be something wrong with my eyes…Mina would never do this to me. If my eyes are not deceiving me then that means she did this on purpose! _As he got closer I cursed in my head, _Fuck! It is him! I will get her good for this payback is definitely a bitch. _I wanted to hide under the table, disappear - something to keep him from seeing that I was his date. But it was too late, he saw me and flashed that cheesy fake grin of his.

"Well good evening Serena. I told Mina that you would be the perfect date for me, and boy was I right. You look gorgeous – breathtakingly gorgeous."

"D-d-d-d-darien? This must be a mistake – you can't be my date!"

Author's Note: Sorry that this is a day late. I didn't have as much time on the fourth as I thought that I would. Also I apologize for leaving you hanging with this ending. Chapter Four is on the way, I hope that you're enjoying the story – and don't forget please review and let me know how I'm doing. Arigato in advance!


	4. The Dinner Date and Back to Polaris

Author's Note: Yeah – I always write these annoying little notes to you guys – I apologize. Anyway the usual disclaimer about not owning Sailor Moon…I hope that you really like this story (and that you weren't cursing me for leaving you with that cliffhanger), once again if you have any questions or comments or suggestions please feel free to pm me or submit a review. Today seems to be update day or something – plus I started a new story as well – since I couldn't help myself. My first story is almost over anyway so why not. I haven't posted it yet – but the first chapter should be up sometime this week. Summer school has been keeping me busy this week – and I've been working on this story in pieces, here and there when I have the time to – it's unfortunate because I love writing this story and I always come up with new ideas – but sometimes I don't have the time to write them down. Thanks once again to my first two reviewers – serenity11287 and fantasyluv; I really appreciate the kind words, they inspire me to keep on writing. Of course as you probably remember Serena's thoughts are in italics. Now to the part that you actually want to read (at least I hope) – the story:

* * *

**Chapter Four: The Dinner Date and Back to Polaris**

_How the hell could Mina possibly stoop so low. Raye was probably involved in this. Wait a minute – screw that idea - she probably did this! _I stared at Darien, dumbfounded, he simply looked at me from where he was standing and smiled gently. Despite the fact that I was not happy to see him – he did look nice. He had donned a tuxedo for the night; I guess you could say that he cleans up nicely.

"Sorry if you were expecting someone else Serena. But I'm actually kind of happy about the outcome of this so-called 'blind date.'"

I cringed inwardly, the thoughts that were going through my mind ranged from mildly angry to absolutely furious. _This can't be happening. Raye and Mina set me up, with Darien of all people! How dare they do this to me! Wait until I get a hold of those two bitches! _I was glad that I was sitting down because the shock of Darien being my date was finally starting to absorb into my brain. I could have killed someone at this point, and if anyone was going to die it was going to be either Raye or Mina. I didn't know whether to run away, scream, or what but I had to get out of this one way or another. Darien pulled out the chair across from me.

"Don't be so surprised Serena, you act like you're not happy to see me." Darien teased, flashing that horribly attractive smile of his.

"Well right now I'm looking for the cameras and production crew, because there's no way in hell that this is real. Either that or I fell asleep when I was watching television and I'm living in one of my worst nightmares." Darien reached over and gave my skin a little pinch. "Ouch! Listen mister – although I realize that I'm awake now, don't you ever touch me again – got it?"

"Yeah, I've got it – I was just pinching you to show you that you weren't dreaming." Darien replied unhappily. "So did you get the flowers that I sent you?" He said – desperately trying to change the subject.

"Flowers?"

"The five dozen pink roses that I set on your doorstep? Mina told me that pink roses were your favorite."

"Did she also tell you what time I usually take a shower – stalker-boy?"

"I wasn't stalking you I swear Serena. Mina gave me your address in case I had to come and pick you up today for our date. Maybe I should be happier that you drove. I was only trying to be nice, please just give me a little chance Serena, let's just make the best of this date tonight?"

_Hmmm cunning and quick wit. He probably uses that smooth talk of his to get women to take their tops off. Well two can play at that game Mr. Shields, I might be blonde – but I'm not dumb. _

"Fine. I'll go along with this date tonight, since I promised myself yesterday that I would at least try to be civil with you."

"Fair enough Serena." Darien replied as our waiter came to take our order.

"Hello. My name is Andrew and I will be your waiter. I'm also a trained sommelier. Could I offer you any drinks to start off the night?" He said while handing us two menus.

"I'd rather n-" I started but then Darien rudely interrupted me.

"A little Champaign for myself and the lady."

"Excellent choice sir, I will be right back with your Champaign." Andrew said as he left.

As we looked at the menus, Darien decided that it was time to attempt at making small talk. "Serena, I have this feeling that you never believed me when I said that you were cute. Well I really think that you are. I've been interested in getting to know you ever since I bumped into you at Mina's office."

"The unisex bathroom – what a lovely place to meet, you know that's where I met every single person that I've dated." I replied sarcastically.

"I'm serious though Serena. You seem a lot different from other girls."

"Tell me honestly Darien – how many women have you said that to before?"

"None."

"Liar."

"I mean it, I have yet to say it to anyone. No one has really captured my interest in a long time." Darien finished as Andrew returned with the glasses of Champaign. "Thank you."

"Are you ready to order? Or would you like to hear about tonight's specials?" Darien looked over at me, silently making sure that I was ready to order.

"I believe that we are ready to order. There's no need for the list of tonight's specials."

"As always ladies first, what would you like tonight mademoiselle?" Andrew asked me, with his professional-looking notebook and pen at the ready to take my order.

As soon as I had gotten the menu, I decided to be a complete and total bitch and order the most expensive things on the menu. It was my way of getting revenge on not only Darien – but Mina and Raye as well. I could just hear them now, criticizing me for how poorly I treated Darien on the date. _He-he-he. _I knew that I could eat it all, but making Darien squirm would be something quite enjoyable for me. "Let's see, to start off I will have a caesar salad, followed by some whole fresh lobster, then the 12oz Kobe Beef Sirloin Strip Steak, ending with some of your homemade caramel and pecan covered cheesecake." Andrew took it all down, grimacing as he wrote. I guess that maybe he felt bad for Darien because he was adding up all of this in his head. I looked over at Darien, hoping to see him frowning in a deep state of depression – or trying to warn me that he couldn't pay for all of that. But I got no such satisfaction; all he did was continue to smile at me as if I had only ordered a small salad and a glass of water.

"I've always loved a woman who likes to eat. Anorexic girls are not my type." He purred at me – in front of Andrew, which made me blush. _Damn it he got me – but I'm going to have to be more on my toes, he's a cleverer opponent than I originally thought. _

"For you tonight sir?" Andrew asked in bewilderment.

"I will have a New York Strip steak, and I think that I will have something that Serena's having – the fresh lobster, only make mine some lobster tails. For dessert I think that a slice of that sinful chocolate cake, it sounds wonderful. Thank you." We handed our menus back to Andrew – and then he left, probably trying to figure out how we were going to pay for all of this. Which was exactly what I was wondering. "As I was saying before Andrew left, I know what you're thinking Serena. I'm a playboy; I go out with a new woman every night and have sex with her. I know the drill; I've heard it before. Why do you think that I was in Mina's office that day when we first met? Is it really hard for you to believe that, and I don't like admitting this but – it's almost impossible for me to get a date?"

"Yes it is Darien. Who knows – you might go see my sister because you're trying to get a date with her. Of course that will never happen since…"

"Spare me Serena" Darien interrupted me for the second time tonight. "I know that Mina's a lesbian and that she's in a committed relationship with Raye. Listen, I don't go and see your sister because I have women lined up at my doorstep waiting for me to ravish them. Most women say that I'm too nice – not to mention with my insecurities about the way that I look, the fact that I can even be a stripper surprises me myself."

"It's not that I don't want to believe you Darien. I just find it hard to believe that someone like you would have trouble getting a date."

"What do you mean someone like me?" Darien asked – a smirk coming across his handsome features.

"I'm not going to indulge your stupid little fantasy Darien. I'll just lay out some facts for you. You're a decent-looking man, you obviously know how to turn on the charm, as well as turn on a lot of women. Who wouldn't like that? I'm also starting to think that stripping is not your only job, based on the fact that I ordered all of that food and yet you didn't even flinch. A stripper can't possibly make that much money. So now it's time to answer my question – do you have some other job that I don't know about?" I asked – ready to get to the dirty details. Who knew what Darien could be doing as a side job – prostituting himself? I wouldn't doubt it with the moves that he displayed on the dance floor.

"You caught me Serena, I don't just strip. You could say that stripping is more of an extra-curricular activity." Darien had seemed to loosen up a bit, his happy disposition was still there, it was as if nothing I said could phase him.

"So what do you really do, and why do you strip if stripping is not the main source of your income?" _I'm finally getting to the inner core of the real Darien and – he better not bullshit me or else his time is up and I'm leaving without the food. I could always go somewhere else for food._

"Do these questions mean that you might actually be a tiny bit interested Serena?"

"Just answer the questions – I don't have time for your games."

"All right, all right." Darien chuckled. "I'm actually a real estate agent. I'm also somewhat of a whiz at the stock market – not to brag or anything. As for why I strip – it's a bit more complicated than that, and you're right – I don't strip for money. I'm sure that you've noticed that I'm the only stripper that no one throws money at or anything like that, because everyone is informed at the start of the show that I don't take tips. But let me start out by saying that I'm one of the original owners of Polaris, I still co-own the club with Raye. I just don't want anyone else to know about it because they might think that it's weird. When I first got out of college, most people told me that I was too uptight and that I didn't have any fun. I was unattractive, anti-social, the most nerdy person that you can ever imagine."

"Like I could ever believe that" I scoffed at Darien.

"I knew that you would say that, that's part of the reason why I always carry pictures around with me." Darien said, pulling out his wallet, which was expensive-looking and filled with credit cards, pictures, and a nice wad of cash. He pulled out a picture of him from within the wallet – which was obviously from his last year of college. Darien was in the middle, standing next to Michelle who looked like she was still in college. She was smiling happily, with her arm around her brother's shoulders. Next to her were a man and a woman who looked older; my initial guess would be that they were their parents. After looking at it, I just stared in shock. I could tell that in the picture he had gotten his bachelor's degree due to the look of the graduation gown complete with a hood. His name was embroidered into the gown, which was a bit much for me – we all wore the same generic gowns at my graduation. It was clear to me that Darien had graduated with top honors from his University, magna cum laude – which means that his GPA was at least a 3.9 when he graduated. That however, was not the part that I was shocked about. The college graduate in the picture was overweight and his face was covered in so many pimples that it looked swollen. He had bottle cap glasses, and his hair looked like it was composed of more grease than actual hair – the most startling part of the picture was that he was frowning in his own graduation picture. His parents had the looks of professional models – and I wouldn't doubt it if his mother had been one. They were both skinny and tall – much like Darien is now, and they seemed to have very happy dispositions. The college grad in the picture was Darien's polar opposite, but there it was, right in front of my face, and as far as I could tell no computer editing had altered the picture.

"You're not kidding are you?"

"No, I'm not." Darien said as he returned the picture to his wallet. "When I graduated college I was 20 years old, a man who barely ever left his room and ate the most greasy foods possible. After I graduated, I wanted to change my image after realizing that I might be alone for the rest of my life. Despite my anti-socialness, I was one of the nerds that was waiting for Miss Right to come along. I worked hard as soon as I graduated, not only in money matters – such as building my real estate business, but also to better my appearance. I guess now you understand why they call me 'the businessman' when I strip." Darien teased as Andrew placed my first dish – the caesar salad in front of me. I started eating while Darien continued to chat. Then I thought about it and decided that maybe I could at least be polite towards Darien in terms of my dinner manners.

"Excuse me Darien, you don't mind if I eat my first dish while you continue do you?"

"No – go ahead Serena, I can wait until my food gets here."

"All right, continue – this is actually a pretty fascinating life story." I said as I once again picked up my salad fork and resumed eating.

"I'm glad that you're interested Serena." I blushed as he resumed his story. _Damn it he got me again. _"Anyway, my parents hired a personal trainer for me, they had been trying to get me to use one for years but I had always refused in the past. I went to a dermatologist and was prescribed with Acutane since I had such a severe case of acne. Then finally, I went to get laser eye surgery in order to see with 20/20 vision for the first time in my life. Once I had finished all the procedures and lost the weight, I became happier – and more social, which was great because when I first started out my business, I was the one talking to people trying to sell them a house. Now that I look back on it I laugh because I wouldn't even bother to dress nice in order to show my clients the houses. I would wear my favorite old t-shirt that was riddled with holes, torn-up jeans, and sneakers that I had worn so much that there was barely anything left of them. No dress shirt and tie for me – I refused to wear them. Often I would be rude to my clients whenever they asked a question – I had been so anti-social the majority of my life because of my looks that I had forgotten how to be nice to people. Mother would often nag me about that – telling me that I won't sell houses without a 'people person' type personality or at least semi-decent attire for that matter. I'm sure that you could tell the situation with my love life. The younger man in the photo was not really appealing to anyone who wanted to buy a house – much less a girl. However, even though I changed my looks and a bit of my personality for the better – still to this day I lack the confidence to really pursue a relationship with anyone. So stripping you could say – is really my way of building my self-esteem, I know that it sounds crazy, but that's the way I feel. When I strip I feel great about myself, and even though I've been doing it for a few years – I'm still astonished to this day concerning the number of women who are screaming my name because they think that I'm good looking." Darien finished as the main course arrived.

I did not know what to say. _Obviously Darien could not have just pulled all of that out of his ass, because it does not seem like an act, but wow. _This was one of those rare moments in life where I had been rendered speechless. What could I possibly say after that? _I can't tell him that I don't believe him – because I do. He seems so much more charming than he did before; when I just thought that he was a womanizer._

"That's enough about me and my boring life Serena. Tell me more about yourself." He said as he cut his New York Strip steak.

"Well let's see I'm 24 – but you probably already knew that since Mina might have told you. Unlike you, I only work at Polaris, it's my only source of income and I love working there. As for my love life – well it hasn't been fun. That's partially why I don't trust men who are in the public eye like singers, actors, or strippers," I said nervously as Darien stared at me intently, completely forgetting about his food in order to listen to me. His gaze was so intense that I forgot what I was saying; I was too busy looking at those blue eyes of his. It felt like my emotions had gone haywire. I was really starting to enjoy Darien's company, but at the same time I could not let go of my biased opinion against him. _Serena – what the hell is wrong with you? This is Darien that you are sitting across from. But I guess you can let your guard down a little for today – he doesn't seem too bad. Try to enjoy yourself for today – it is a date after all, even though you weren't particularly thrilled with the company at first. _"Honestly Darien, I really don't know what to say – I'm at a loss for words. I'm just so captivated by your story. I had you pegged for an asshole and a womanizer – but you seem to be the complete opposite of every single guy that I've ever dated. Which is nice and I like it. However, you realize that I'm not just about to give you my heart in a package complete with wrapping paper and a bow on top just because you told me a nice life story and gave me flowers right?"

"Of course not Serena" Darien chuckled lightheartedly and gave me another dazzling smile. "I wouldn't expect you to do that. Mina told me that you've been hurt before – she didn't give me any details. But that's when I realized that maybe I've been coming off a little too strong on you. That's one of the reasons why I wanted Mina and Raye to help set me up on this date. To make it up to you for what I did the other day – sometimes I come off a little strong when it comes to my emotions. Plus, like I said before, I'm really attracted to you and I think that we should give this a try." He said cautiously, examining my face as I ate more of my Kobe beef stake. "If it doesn't work – then we could say that it's a start of a nice friendship."

_His proposition isn't too bad. Darien seems to be an honest and caring man, but – how do I know that this isn't a trick? Men can be so hard to figure out – so tricky._ "I'll make a deal with you for now Darien. Let's see how the rest of tonight goes and then I can tell you if I think that you and I should go out on a second date. One step at a time." I gave him a friendly smile and once again continued to eat.

Darien was grinning from ear to ear, he seemed like he could not have been happier. "That's completely fair Serena."

"Great." I replied. "So what are your interests – besides real estate and clubbing?"

Darien let out a chuckle, "getting the bureaucratic stuff out of the way I see?"

"You could say that" I said with a smile.

"Well let's see. I like movies. Pretty much every genre of movie – except for the romantic ones, but if a pretty woman like the one across from me happened to want to go to one. I wouldn't say no."

"Thank you. I like movies too – the romantic ones are okay, but comedies are my favorite." I was really starting to loosen up now, and I noticed that I was doing more talking than eating, which is completely unusual for me.

"I do love a great comedy." Darien said with a smile. "I also really like to read. I spend a lot of my free-time reading science fiction novels; I guess you can never completely take the geek out of me. It's somewhat embarrassing."

"Well I'm twenty-four and I still like cartoons. It's no big deal, don't worry about it." I giggled. _Could it be that I'm actually starting to enjoy this date – with Darien of all people?_

"Great to know that you don't think that I'm weird. Let's see I like to cook – I've been a bachelor for so long, and I learned to cook at an early age. That's why I hang out in the kitchen at Polaris with Lita sometimes – I can't stay away from the allure of the kitchen."

"Neither can I – but not to cook. I'm not that great of a cook, but I do love to eat." I said with a bit of embarrassment.

"Speaking of eating, our food is getting cold." Darien remarked.

"You're right, and I don't want this great food to go to waste!" I said as I grabbed my knife and fork and started cutting, biting, chewing, and swallowing quickly – but as elegantly as I possibly could.

"You're absolutely adorable Serena." Darien told me as I continued to eat.

"Oh, well thank you." I said, once again a bit embarrassed. After about fifteen minutes I had finished almost all the rest of the food.

"I didn't doubt you when you said that you liked to eat Serena – but wow." Darien said as he signaled for Andrew to bring us the bill, as well as two carry out bags. Andrew returned quickly with the bill as well as our take out boxes and a couple of bags. He quickly placed all of the food into the boxes and then put the boxes into the bags while Darien looked at the check. He pulled out six hundred dollar bills, and gave them to Andrew who stared at us in shock. "Keep the change Andrew. I hope that the next time that we visit this restaurant we will have you as our server." Darien said as he got up from his chair and pulled out my chair, enabling me to get up as well. He grabbed the leftovers with his left hand.

"Thank you" Andrew said in shock to Darien – who offered me his right arm, which I accepted.

As we walked out, Darien opened the door for me. _What a gentleman, maybe Darien really isn't too bad after all. I guess that I've gotten to the point where I'm too quick to judge people._

"I insist on walking you to your car Serena."

"Fine by me Darien, thank you for the nice night, and please excuse my rudeness from earlier. I'm just…"

"On your guard? I understand Serena, once you get hurt it's only natural right?" I nodded; we walked to my car – which I had parked very far in the back of the parking lot. As we approached the car, I found my hand drifting from Darien's elbow – to Darien's hand. Darien seemed a little surprised at first that I was willingly holding his hand, but he smiled and gave my hand a squeeze.

"Well there's my ride." I told him, somewhat awkwardly – letting go of Darien's hand. I don't want to kiss Darien – because I still have not completely given him my trust. Somehow he seemed to understand that and gave me a small smile. Darien handed me the leftovers, I unlocked my car and put them in the passenger side and prepared myself to say goodnight to Darien.

"Goodnight Serena, I guess I'll see you at work tomorrow. But if you need anything or get into any trouble on your way home – here's my number, give me a call." Darien pulled a business card out of his tuxedo pocket and gave it to me. I glanced at the card – it was incredibly elegant. The card had a black background and Darien's name was written in golden calligraphy at the top of the card. Underneath that there was more gold writing that told me about his profession – the real estate business that he owned and operated, as well as his office and cell phone number. He stared at me for a few minutes, unsure of what to do.

I decided that I could take a risk – just this once. "How about a hug Darien?"

"That's just what I was thinking." Darien replied and he opened his arms a bit, just enough for me to come into them. Once I did, he embraced me with his strong arms. It was a gentle and kind embrace – something that I had not ever experienced before. When I was there in Darien's arms, I never wanted to leave. _This feels so nice; he's so warm, soft, and huggable. Kind of like a teddy bear. _It seemed like ten minutes had passed by as I stayed in Darien's arms, when finally he broke off the hug. "I guess it's time to go now. See you at work?"

"Yes I'll see you at work tomorrow Darien. Thank you once again for the nice night."

"All right then." Darien said, still standing in front of me. I could tell that he really didn't want to leave – and something in me didn't really want him to leave either. "Bye" he said, as he turned a bit to go to his car.

"Bye." I said, as I stood next to the driver's side door, watching him as he finally turned and walked towards his car. As soon as I turned on my car, the first thing I noticed was the time – it was 9:00pm, we had been at the restaurant for three hours. _I guess I did enjoy the date more than I thought. Time flies when you're having fun. _There was no traffic as I drove home to find that Trista's car was finally gone, and that Raye and Mina were home. As soon as I turned the key in the lock, I heard footsteps running toward the door. I opened it to find Raye and Mina looking at me with huge smiles on their faces.

"So how did the date go Serena?" Mina asked with a grin as I shoved them out of the way to get into the house and put the leftovers into the refrigerator. They followed me like two puppies who could not bear to leave their mother for a second. Sure I was happy and had had a nice time – but I wasn't exactly ready to spill the beans after they had done this to me. "I called Darien already and he said that it seemed like you guys really connected." I walked to the living room while Mina followed me and babbled about how Darien really enjoyed the date with Raye tailing right behind her. I planted myself firmly on the couch and crossed my arms while Mina and Raye decided to sit together on the love seat.

"Maybe we did Mina…but before I even begin to tell you what occurred on the date, I would like to know what exactly possessed you to think that it would be okay to go behind my back and set me up on a date with Darien."

"Well I didn't see anything wrong with it – I mean he's a real estate agent, a nice guy, gentleman…"

"Don't play dumb with me Mina, I know that Raye must have told you that he's a stripper at Polaris. She must have also told you about all the problems that I've had with Darien so far. That's why you didn't tell me what his profession was! Worst of all, you know how I feel about men who constantly have women surrounding them – men who have jobs like Darien's…hobby. They are just born cheaters as far as I'm concerned."

"Well actually Raye said that you two would make a really nice couple, and how perfect you seem for one another. She really noticed the chemistry when he was giving you that lap dance on Saturday night…" Mina stopped talking as soon as Raye smacked her in the arm. "Damn it Raye – that hurt."

"Mina! I told you not to mention anything about the lap dance to her. Besides why did you have to bring me into this? I thought that we had an agreement that I wouldn't be dragged into this – that Serena would never know that I was involved in this matter at all!" _I decided to let the lap dance comment go…because secretly I had enjoyed Darien's lap dance on Saturday night–well, at first anyway._

"It wouldn't have mattered because I figured it out the moment that I saw Darien enter the room." Raye looked at me, guilt written all over her face.

"You weren't mad were you Serena?" Mina asked me with a bit of concern.

"Mad doesn't even begin to cover how furious I was Mina. At that point during the date I was coming up with ways to murder the both of you without getting caught."

"We're sorry Serena, please forgive us!" Raye and Mina said simultaneously.

"Don't worry about it – I forgave both of you a while ago. But I guess in a way I should be thanking the both of you because Darien and I kind of hit it off once I got to know him better. I guess first personality impressions in terms of looks won't really get you anywhere. I should be more careful about the way that I judge people."

"So did you get a juicy kiss?" Mina asked me, which I had been anticipating.

"No Mina I didn't. I think that Darien wanted to, but I normally don't like kissing on the first date."

"Why do I have a feeling that you're lying Serena?" Raye asked me, wanting to tease me now that she knew that I was all right.

"Because you're a damned pervert – not to mention the fact that you gave Mina oral sex on your first date." Mina and Raye both turned a shade of bright red. _Serena one and Raye zero, tonight was a pretty great night after all. Now it's time to make my exit before Raye recovers from the shock of my statement. _"Anyway, I'm kind of tired, I've had a busy day and I'd like to get a nice rest. I have to go to work tomorrow after all. But just so the both of you know…" Raye and Mina looked at me - the expressions on their faces completely neutral, "we are going to go on a second date, so don't try to set Darien up with anyone else Mina." I said as I ran up the stairs and into my bedroom, where I closed the door. It had been a very nice night, so I decided to end it early before it somehow took a turn for the worse. I changed into my favorite bunny pjs, brushed my teeth, and went to bed – excited to see Darien once again.

The next day I woke up happy and refreshed. I performed my usual morning rituals and silently went downstairs. No one was around, _I guess that Mina had to leave early because of a client and Raye went with her. _That's when I heard Mina's loud screaming consisting of "yes Raye! That's my spot!" _I guess they figured that I would still be sleeping…I did wake up a little bit earlier than usual, but damn it! Can't you both wait until you see that my car is gone or some little sign that I've left the house._ Which was followed by more sexual exclamations. I decided to leave early because even turning on the tv in the living room wouldn't drown out their loud sexcapades. I got my keys and purse and walked to my car, _since it will be a while before Raye or Mina makes me breakfast – and I can't cook for shit, it's time to go get some brunch. I might have leftovers in the fridge, but I have a feeling that Mina and Raye got to them first last night anyway. _I roamed around my neighborhood until I reached a place that had nice breakfast, lunch, and dinner options. It was one of those 24-hour places where you get semi-decent food – but for great prices. I walked into the small restaurant, about to ask the hostess to give me a seat, when I saw Michelle and Amara sitting down at a booth – both of them facing me. Michelle noticed me first and waved, inviting me to come over. I accepted her invitation and went over to their booth, quickly telling the hostess that I had seen some friends and that I would sit with them. Luckily enough for me, Amara and Michelle had just gotten there too – and had yet to order their food.

"Hello again kitten, how are you doing today?" Amara said a smirk playing up her tomboyish features.

"Really well actually."

Michelle smiled at me, "Darien told me that you guys went out last night. How was it? He seemed to be on cloud nine when he got home."

"You live with him?" I asked her puzzled.

"Yes we've lived together for a while actually. He moved out of the house when he graduated from college – I was 18 at the time, and we have always been really close to one another. So I asked my parents if it was all right if I moved in with him. I've been living with him ever since then. Technically you could say that I have two roommates – since Amara lives with us now too." _Seems like Darien and I are in the same boat when it comes to running out of the house trying to get away from the loud sounds of two women being sexually pleasured by one another. Maybe I'll ask him for some tips or something for getting out of the house before the eruption starts; judging by the way that I met Amara – she and Michelle must have sex a lot, so Darien must be a pro by now._

The waitress passed by just then, and I asked her for a menu, which she gave to me and went back to her business.

"See anything that you like?" Amara asked and gave me a wink before she started to busy herself by playing with Michelle's hair; my guess was that she already knew what she wanted to eat.

"Yeah, I think that I'm ready to go." I quickly checked my purse to see if I had enough money for my food, after confirming that I did, "yes. I'm definitely ready to order I'm starving. How about you Michelle?"

Michelle giggled, "you are certainly adorable Serena. As a matter of fact I think that I'm ready to order too. Let's see if we can get the waitress' attention." Michelle turned around and looked in the direction of a different waitress. Within two seconds flat, the new waitress seemed to be over at our table, her high heels clicking on the tile floor – ready to take our orders. _The power of a glance - Michelle is so beautiful, no wonder she can attract attention so quickly._

"Hello, I see that my favorite couple is back. And who's the new blonde in town?" The red-haired waitress asked with a New York accent. She seemed to be really friendly.

"I'm Serena – nice to meet you."

"The name's Molly. These two come in here all the time and order the same thing, I don't know why they even bother getting menus anymore."

"Old habits die hard Molly, we just can't help it." Amara said with a sly smirk.

Molly chuckled, "So Serena, are you a friend of theirs? How come I've never seen you here before?"

I looked at Michelle and Amara, I couldn't figure out how to answer that question. I'd like to consider Michelle and Amara as friends – eventually, but I don't know how they feel about me.

"Yes we're friends – not to mention that she's dating my brother." Michelle said with a small smirk on her face. My face suddenly felt hot and flushed. _I can't believe that Michelle said that. Wait - why am I suddenly embarrassed at the mere mention of Darien? I can't go from hating him one day to falling head over heels for him the next. We're not even officially a couple yet! _

"Well goodness Serena, you got yourself a catch! You shouldn't be embarrassed about that doll– if I was going out with Darien I would shout it out to the world. He's such a sweet guy. He comes in here every so often with Michelle when Amara's working since Darien has the night shift so to speak. I would definitely date him – or jump on the opportunity to date him if I could."

"Darien and I went out last night – for just one little date. I guess you could say that he's technically he's still single…" I trailed off, not sure how much I wanted to tell her; luckily for me it seems like she had just remembered something important, and quickly interrupted me.

"Oh, you can tell me all the details later – I want to know straight from the source. But first I've got to get your order in. So what would you like Serena?"

"Hmm, I'll have three pancakes with strawberries and whipped topping. I'll also have four sausages, two scrambled eggs, and a large cup of orange juice."

"My, my, someone's hungry. I'll go and put your orders in right now." Molly said and walked away from the table, high heels clicking once again on the tile floor.

"I have to go to the bathroom – I'll be back soon love." Amara said as she gave Michelle an innocent kiss on the lips.

Once Amara left, 'the interrogation' that I had not expected from Michelle started. "So Serena – maybe this is a bit rude of me to ask, but how do you think that the date with my brother went? I promise that I won't tell him – I'm pretty good at keeping secrets." Michelle said, staring at me with an unreadable look on her face.

"It's no problem Michelle, I trust you." I said, with a bit of hesitation. "The date with Darien, well at first I was a bit disappointed, because I'm sure that Darien has told you that we've had our…bad starts." I had to be a bit more careful when talking about Darien with Michelle – he is her darling older brother after all. Michelle nodded in understanding, although she's only two years older than me – she seems so much wiser than me.

"My brother does tend to come off a little strong, especially with women that he really likes. You should have heard him the first day that he met you at Mina's office. Darien kept on talking about how he met this wonderful girl, and how he was so stunned by her beauty that he couldn't ask her out. He's a real romantic at heart, despite some of the things that he says and does at times – I can assure you that his intentions are for good. Darien was really upset on Saturday after he hurt you, it took me a few hours to get it out of him – and we are usually pretty open with one another concerning our feelings. You must be pretty special to him." Michelle told me.

"Wow…I never knew that…." I looked up to see that Amara had returned from the bathroom, and was quickly making her way back to the table. _Wow she walks pretty fast – seems like I was just getting to the good part too._

"So what did I miss?"

"Oh nothing Amara – just a bit of girl chatter, I know how you hate that."

"Yeah you're right. Doesn't matter to me anyway though since the food should be getting here soon." Amara said awkwardly as she sat down next to Michelle once again.

"Well enough about my love life, how did you two meet anyway?" I don't like being the center of attention all the time, so I decided to divert the attention away from me. Amara and Michelle looked at each other, and shared a secret smile.

"Amara and I went to the same college. She was on the track team, and I was on the swim team. We both would practice outside, since our college had an outdoor pool and track. Often our practices would get out at the same time, and I'd see Amara in the locker room when I went to go take a shower and change – she would always be staring at me as if I was some kind of rare jewel or something."

"I couldn't help but stare at her whenever she came from the pool – that swimsuit of hers clung so tight to every curve of her body. Not to mention the amount of cleavage that came out from the top of her suit."

Michelle playfully hit her partner, "oh stop it you pervert, Serena doesn't want to hear about all of that."

"I was just teasing, Serena. Actually for me it was love at first site, I just knew that she had to be mine – but Michelle didn't feel the same way." Amara said looking at Michelle.

"No, I didn't. I guess you could say that my relationship with Amara at first was one of un-requited love on Amara's behalf anyway. It's not that I wasn't attracted to girls or anything, I have always been attracted to women – and at the time I knew that Amara was attracted to women as well. There was one thing about her that really ticked me off though, every single person that I met – starting the second semester of our freshman year of college told me that Amara was a player. They said that Amara would often date girls, and what is that phrase – 'love them and leave them.' I was not into that kind of relationship at all. So when Amara came up to me and confessed her feelings at first, I didn't want any part of it. As you probably would have figured out by now, I was not exactly keen on the idea of becoming another one of her conquests. The thing about Amara is that even though I rejected her, she kept on persistently pursuing me. She told me that I couldn't do that to her – just because I had heard some silly little rumors about her. Later, I found out that all the girls who told me about Amara and her loveless ways were just jealous girls who had been rejected by her in the past. After I found that out, I eventually admitted that I had been attracted to her all along. From there we really just hit it off." Michelle said, smiling at her partner.

As Michelle finished their story, I couldn't help but think. _Wow- she had the same opinion of Amara that I had of Darien. Although Darien's a nice guy and all, I don't think that he's anything like Amara. Not to mention that I don't think I could ever be as in love as Amara and Michelle are. They might not show it all the time, but it's really obvious that they're deeply in love. _

Once again I heard the click of high heels resounding against the tile floor. "All right, I'm back now ladies!" Molly had returned with our food. "For the tall and lovely Amara we have the usual ham and salad."

"Thank you Molly, I was just about to storm into the kitchen and demand to have my food."

Molly laughed, "you're so funny Amara – did you really think that I was going to bring you a late, cold plate of food? I think not." Molly grabbed another dish off of her tray, "for the elegant and gorgeous Michelle we have the usual blueberry crepes with one egg – sunny side up."

"You have such a great memory Molly."

"Well I'd like to think so – especially since the two of you are here practically every day." Molly then pulled my plate off of her tray, "last but not least we have the new and let's not forget beautiful Serena."

"Thanks Molly, I really appreciate it."

"No problem at all, it's my pleasure. Any good friend of Amara and Michelle's is a friend of mine. I hope that you come back with Amara and Michelle sometime, maybe you could even bring Darien with you next time." Molly said, her eyes glazing over dreamily.

"We'll see about Darien." I said a bit tensely – but still trying to be nice. _Did my voice just have a hint of jealousy? Nah. _"But I'll definitely be back sometime."

"Cool." Molly was apparently unaware of the harshness in my voice when I mentioned Darien. "It's starting to get really busy around here – lunch hour is here, you know the drill. I would love to stay and chat, but I've got to get back to work. I guess that I'll see you later Amara and Michelle. Give me a call sometime and we'll hang out." She smiled at the two lovers, then looked at me, "it was nice meeting you Serena. I guess I'll see you around here sometime in the near future." With that she turned on her heel and left, the clicking of the shoes against the tile floor echoing in my ears even after she had departed from the table.

The three of us started to eat our food quietly, enjoying the serenity of the moment as well as the present company. A half an hour passed by as we ate our food and chatted. That's when I realized that the more I got to know Amara and Michelle – the more I liked them. It was almost as if I was idolizing the two older women sitting in front of me, either that or I could just be envious of what they have. _Their lives seem so perfect; they found the ideal love in one another – that's the most important thing of all, well at least to me. I really wish that I could find that someone special, the one who I knew was the one. _After my last morsel of food had been devoured and Molly had come back with our bill, I decided that it was time to take my leave – and let the two lovers enjoy their alone time. "Thank you for letting me eat with you Amara and Michelle, you both were perfect company. I think that I should go now though, and let you two have your alone time."

"We're glad that you wanted to come over and eat with us. It's nice to get to know new people." Amara said with her usual smirk. Michelle looked at me and gave me a graceful smile.

"We really like you Serena, so don't think that you intruded on our date or anything like that. Amara and I are pretty much always together – so I don't want you to feel uncomfortable when you're around us."

"Oh I don't feel uncomfortable or anything, I just think that everyone needs their alone time with their special someone – and I think that I might have invaded one of your favorite personal spots. It's hard to get away from everyone and have a little bit of romantic time with your lover – not that I would know of course. But it's something that I dream of. Some place where my one and only go – just the two of us, and enjoy the company of one another. I know that you two spend a lot of time together – and you rightfully should. I can tell that both of you deeply love one another, and I feel as if I'm intruding in a private moment now. So I'm going to leave you two if that's all right. I also feel as if I owe you both something, so the check is on me." I took out my wallet and got out some money to pay for what all of us had eaten.

"You don't have to do that Serena – and don't worry you're welcome anytime to hang out with us. In fact – if you ever need someone to talk to, especially concerning matters of the heart – I'm always open. You're such a sweetheart that I would feel awful telling you that I wanted you to leave, and believe me when I say that I would never do anything of the sort." Michelle reached over and lightly touched me on the shoulder.

"We enjoy your company little kitten." Amara said, giving me a flirtatious wink.

"That's right – you're so bubbly and cheery, you seem to light up any room that you're in. Don't worry about the money though – I've got it…" Michelle said, pushing the money back towards me.

"I couldn't possibly let you guys pay for my large meal, especially after your brother paid for the tab last night, it's the least I can do. Besides, I feel like I owe you for your help." I said – mostly to Michelle for what she had told me earlier concerning the rocky beginning of her relationship with Amara.

"Serena, Michelle and I don't want you spending your hard earned money on food. Let's just say that it was our treat today – you can get the check next time. Deal?" Amara asked me, extending her hand for a handshake.

"It's a deal then." I replied, grabbing her hand and giving her a nice – firm handshake. "I better get going now though – it's 1:00 and I have to go back home. Mina and Raye are probably worried about me. Thanks again though!" I said as I got up and walked away from the booth.

Michelle and Amara waved goodbye to me, smiles spread across both of their faces. _I'm glad that I made some new friends – even though I had to meet Amara in such an awkward and embarrassing manner. _Despite the fact that I knew that the two of them were in love – I couldn't help but think about the first night that I had met Amara, when she and Michelle were getting frisky. I drove back home, hoping that Mina and Raye were done with their daily romp – that and they wouldn't be naked when I got home. _The last thing I need is to see two naked people on the couch who have just finished many passionate hours of lovemaking – when I haven't gotten laid since - Seiya! The last time that we had a romp in the sac was over a year ago. _I got out of the car, to find Raye coming out of the house charging at me full-speed. _Well at least I know that they're not fucking right now. _

"Serena – glad that you're back. Listen I really need your help today early at Polaris, so get in my car and let's go. You don't have to drive – since I see you've been driving already today."

"Do I have to?

"Yes!" Raye exclaimed at me from where she was standing. She looked dangerously close to dragging me to her car.

I decided to test the waters one last time before I even made a step towards the car. "Don't I even get an explanation first?"

"No explanations necessary, get your ass in the car now and let's go. Now!"

Apparently Raye was either stressed out or mad or both. I grumbled and mumbled my way to Raye's car – which was a red Mustang, and closed the door. I frantically hurried to buckle my seat belt as Raye got in the car. If there's one thing in life that I must say that I hate – besides men like Seiya, it's Raye's driving. Raye is a fucking speed demond, every single time I'm in the car with her I feel like we're either going to fly off the road and into a ditch or crash into someone's car at full speed. When Raye's mad her driving is about three times as worse as it is when she's happy, so I said a little prayer as Raye put her key in the ignition. As soon as that key had turned, that's when the ride began as I kept on re-assuring myself that I was going to be all right. Raye pulled out of our driveway at full speed – not even caring that someone was only a few feet behind her when she had gotten the tail of her car out of the driveway.

"Watch where you're going asshole, I'm doing something important!" Raye yelled out the window at the man behind us. He honked at us, as Raye slammed her foot on the accelerator. Raye had gone crazy. "Who does that little girl think that she is anyway? I'm going to show her whose boss."

I knew at that point that asking questions would be even more detrimental to my health than sitting in the passenger seat of Raye's car. I silently sat there as Raye continued to rant and rave about some woman that I had yet to meet. I wondered why she made Raye so angry – but it would be stupid to ask at this point. _I guess I'll have to wait and see when I get there. _Raye took a sharp right turn going 60 in a 35mph zone; while I clung onto the car door for dear life. That's when Raye's phone started ringing loudly in the glove compartment; for the most part she ignored it. Eleven minutes later we reached Polaris without getting a ticket – but running through a couple of red lights. As soon as the car stopped, I burst out of the car door – at that point I really wanted to get down on my knees and start kissing the ground.

"Come on Serena, stop goofing around! I have an appointment to keep – and you're needed." Raye said to me as she looked around her key ring for the Polaris key; Raye has an insane amount of keys on her key ring – and to me they all look the same. She grabbed the Polaris key in what I thought was record time, considering all the keys on the key ring – and jammed it in the door with such force that I thought it would break. Then she shoved the door open and it hit against the wall on the inside with a loud bang. Raye walked inside, noticed that she didn't hear footsteps right behind her, and turned around to glare at me.

"Get in here!" Raye yelled at me – sheesh you would think that they had just released Raye from the mental institution by the way that she was acting. I walked in behind her, and she immediately grabbed my arm and led me to the bar area. Already sitting at the table were three people: Darien, and a man with long brown hair were sitting at the table facing me – they both looked very serious. Although Darien smiled and waved at me when I entered the room. The other person sitting at the table looked kind of petit, but his or her back was turned to me. Judging by the body type I would think that it was a girl; and this girl had the most interesting hair color. It was as if her dye job had gone wrong or something because her hair was a shade of cotton candy pink.

"Sorry I'm late everyone – let's blame this on Serena." Raye said as she let go of me, after pushing me into a chair. Then she sat down next to me and proceeded to glare at the young woman with the cotton candy colored hair.

"I see that her royal ass-kisser has arrived." The pink haired girl said – I'm guessing that she was talking about Raye. "Who'd you bring with you – your girlfriend?"

"Talk to me like that again and see where it gets you!" Raye told the girl through gritted teeth. "I will have your ass in a car back home to your mother in no time – got it Rini?"

The girl – whose name apparently was Rini ignored Raye's comment and looked over at Darien. "Thank you for calling this meeting for me sir, it was very nice of you." She said with extra sweetness in her voice, while batting her eyelashes at Darien.

"You're welcome Rini – although I wish you wouldn't act so hostile towards Raye, she is your aunt after all, not to mention one of the owners of this club." Darien replied, ignoring Rini's flirtatious eyes.

"I really appreciate the opportunity to work here – and I just want to make it clear to Raye that I'm here to work. I'm just here to play my songs, mix some up – then leave. The only reason that you guys aren't hiring me on the spot is because you think that I'm too young to do this – admit it."

"Well" the brown haired man said, "I do think that you being only 17 is worrisome to us. But we hear that you're one of the best up and coming DJs – and this is a wonderful job opportunity for you. Not to mention aren't you turning 18 very soon?"

"At the end of the week sir." Rini replied. "I think that you guys should give me a chance and let me have the job."

"And what I'm saying is that your mother would never allow you to step foot in a club like this until you're over 18. It would be even better if you're over 21 – come to think about it, if I see you take one sip of alcohol missy, you will regret the day that you ever stepped foot in my club." Raye growled at Rini, "if you think that you can even imagine what your mother will do to you – think about what will happen if I catch you. Your mother is a lot nicer than I am. My sister has always been too nice for her own good."

"I promise you that I won't do any of those things. Like I said auntie Raye – I'm here to work, that's all. But…" Rini said as her eyes drifted to Darien, "meeting cute guys is an option too."

Raye's face turned a firey red, she was incredibly angry. She raised a hand up as if she was about to smack the kid – and that's when I realized what I was here for. I quickly grabbed her arm. "Raye! Calm down! Hitting her is going to get you nowhere. I know that you want to protect your niece but she's going to be 18 at the end of the week – she won't be a child anymore, and she's got to learn to make her own decisions." I yelled at her – and she quickly snapped out of it.

"Thanks Serena…I'm sorry everyone – I really don't know what got into me. I just want what's best for my niece."

"And I want what's best for me too auntie Raye. That's why I want to work here because only the best DJs can get a job at club Polaris. Not to mention this is one of the few clubs that is 18 and up around here, so it's a wonderful start for my career." Rini said as she looked at her aunt in a state of shock, then she turned to me. "Thank you by the way – Serena was it?"

I nodded a yes. "Everyone knows that Raye isn't a violent person, her temper just seems to get the best of her sometimes. That's why I'm here – to really keep an eye on her, since her girlfriend – my sister Mina is at work right now. It's really no problem Raye, I'm always here to help." I'm usually the peacemaker when Raye is around since I know her so well – and at times her firey personality can get the best of her. _That's probably why she urgently dragged me here in the first place – her niece seems a bit like a spoiled brat, and I know that that kind of thing gets on Raye's nerves._

"How about we hear a demo of your work before we come to our final decision then Rini." Raye said – deciding that this was the best way to make up with her niece.

"Sure!" Rini said excitedly as she jumped out of her chair and ran to the turntables. Then she started playing some music and mixing it up – I must admit that I had my doubts that a 17 year old would be able to be a great DJ, since the majority of the DJs at Polaris had lots of experience- most of them were at least five years older than me, and had been working hard for years to try to get where they are today. Polaris only hires the best DJs – but I could tell by the way that Rini was spinning those turn tables that she was a great DJ.

Next she picked up the microphone, "this is DJ Sugar Candy coming to you live at club Polaris. Let's welcome our next act shall we…" she said as she turned another track and started to fire up some of the stripper music. _Wow she's got a lot of talent_. After two minutes of mixing a few tracks, it was obvious to everyone sitting at the table that Rini was a talented DJ.

I stood up and applauded along with the whole table, "bravo Rini! Bravo!" I called out to her, as she took a bow from behind the turntables.

"So?" Rini asked as she came back to the table.

Darien, the brown-haired man, and Raye all looked at each other. "I say that she's in." Darien said, smiling at Rini – then looking over at me and giving me a wink. A small blush crept onto my face – which I unsuccessfully tried to hide.

"Agreed" said the brown haired man.

"I think that…" Raye said as she stared at her niece – almost like a mother looking at a child "you've got the job Rini."

"Score! You won't regret this you guys, I promise! So when do I start?" Rini asked the trio, she was jumping up and down because she was so giddy with excitement.

"I'll call you and let you know." Darien replied, giving her another one of his handsome smiles. "Congrats and welcome to Polaris Rini. Taiki here will walk you out and give you a uniform." Darien said, motioning to the brown-haired man sitting next to him.

"Thank you so much everyone." Rini said, and shyly gave Raye a hug, "I'm sorry to have caused you so much trouble auntie Raye – and for making you mad. Mom always told me that making you mad was a bad idea."

"Its fine sweetie, don't worry about it – welcome aboard. But don't think that I'm going to go easy on you because you're my niece. I don't go easy on Serena here and she's my girlfriend's sister! I'll see you around then Rini."

"Okay." Then Rini looked at me as she was heading out, "thanks Serena it was nice meeting you."

"Oh. Nice meeting you too Rini – I guess I'll see you soon. Bye-bye!" I told her as she headed out with Taiki.

"I'm so sorry for dragging you into this without any explanation Serena – but I really didn't want my temper to get the best of me in front of my niece. Mina had already gone to work – so I didn't have anyone to help me out. Since you know me so well, I thought that you would be able to stand up to me and make me realize that I'm not dealing with a five year old anymore – she's grown up."

"Don't worry about it Raye – you're making yourself sound so old Raye the way you talk about your niece – you're only 26."

"I know, but I guess you could say that I'm like a protective older sister when it comes to Rini – I've helped my sister raise her, and I'll do anything and everything to protect her – just like I would Mina." Raye said, "so thank you once again. Well I guess I'd better start setting up – Polaris isn't going to open for a while but I might as well get some things prepared. If you want to go and change Serena – I already brought your clothes and makeup bag here, they're in the trunk. Lita will be here soon – she'll probably fix you something before it's time to get to work."

"Thanks Raye," I said as my raven-haired friend left, leaving just me – and Darien in the room. Before I would have considered this something out of one of my worst nightmares – but now I don't know what to think. Darien got up from the table; and his eyes were completely fixated on me.

"Thanks for coming Serena. Normally we don't let anyone else in on board meetings – but you're always welcome anytime you want." Darien said to me with a goofy grin. "I'm really happy to see you."

"I'm happy to see you too," I told him honestly.

"Michelle told me that you joined her and Amara for breakfast?"

"Yes I did – it was lovely, they're great company." I said, looking nervously into his blue eyes, "and you're wonderful company as well Darien."

"Thank you. So – I was going to discuss this with you when you got here for work today when there was hardly anyone around. But I don't know what time you usually come in – and I wouldn't want to seem like a stalker." He said with a chuckle. I laughed at his remark as well.

"I don't think that you're a stalker anymore." I replied.

"That's great to know." Darien said, and then lightly cleared his throat – he seemed as if he was a bit nervous. "Anyway, I know that we said that we were going to wait to talk about our second date. But I couldn't wait any longer."

I looked at him – a bit intrigued, "and what's your idea for a second date?"

"Well, I was wondering what you would think about this. It might be a bit soon for a second date – but I would love to spend the day with you on Sunday."

"I'm listening" I replied flirtatiously.

"How about we start off the day with a bit of wine tasting? There's a cheap bus service from my place to the nearest winery – that way we don't have to drive there. Next we visit the brand new aquarium, which is also included on the bus trip. To end the date, we could have a moonlit picnic dinner, made by yours truly, on a small private beach – which happens to be a part of my backyard."

"Sounds – lovely" I replied. I was a bit shocked that he would invite me to his house so soon.

"Well would you like me to pick you up at say around noon on Sunday?" Darien asked, staring deeply into my eyes with those deep blue eyes of his.

"I would like that Darien. You already know the address; I think that you planned out a lovely date." Darien extended his hand out – in a manner like he would for a handshake with another guy. I gave him my hand – but instead of shaking it, he took it and gave me a light kiss on the back of my hand. I had no time to protest – but I must admit it was a really sweet gesture. _Maybe he is nicer than I thought – Seiya never did things like this, no romantic picnics – nor did he ever take me to places that I actually liked. We always did what he wanted to do, we never went anywhere cultured like a winery, nor did we ever go to an aquarium – another place that I love. Those penguins are so cute. I guess I can open my heart a bit more to Darien. I'll let him get away with that little kiss on my hand – for now._

"I can't wait for Sunday." Darien said as he let go of my hand, and walked away – I'm guessing that he was leaving, going home or something.

I was somewhat excited for Sunday as well – despite the fact that I probably would try to keep this as a low key secret, and not let any of my friends in on it – except maybe for Michelle. _I wonder if Michelle and Amara will be at Darien's house on Sunday? Something tells me that they'll make a quick exit the moment that Darien tells Michelle that I accepted a second date with him._

After I accepted the date with Darien, I went to Raye's car to get my clothes and then to the women's dressing room to change. I noticed that Yaten was already there – putting on his feminine attire for the night.

"Hello Serena – I didn't know that anyone else was already here. On Mondays I usually get here early since it's my feature night. Usually there's no one here – but I guess there's a first time for everything." He said to me while he put on a padded bra and stuffed it.

"I can leave if you want."

"Oh no, sit down Serena – I don't mind the company at all. This dressing room is a bit lonely and creepy when no one's here anyway." I stared at Yaten while he stuffed the bra – constantly checking in the mirror to see if his 'boobs' looked all right.

"So I guess you never take it all off do you Yaten?" The question popped out of my mouth before I could think of how he might take it, but Yaten just laughed once again.

"Oh Serena – you're so cute. But you're right – I don't take it all off. You could say that it's more of a bra and panty show for me. I've gotten so good at stuffing my bra though – you'd think that I actually had breasts, especially once I add some latex on the top – put it all over my bra – attach some to my chest as well. It's almost as if I was born with boobs." He said as he continued to stuff his bra, moving the stuffing around so it looked just right – like a real woman's breasts. Then he moved on to the latex, which was relatively easy for him to handle. He used makeup to enhance the life-likeness of his breasts.

"If had taught some of my friends from high school how to do that, they would have worshipped you." Yaten laughed again at my remark, and then put on a sexy green dress.

"What do you think Serena? Does it bring out my eyes?" Yaten asked, as he let his hair down.

"Yes." I said as I moved towards the women's bathroom. "Sorry Yaten – but I feel a bit uncomfortable changing in front of a man – so if you don't mind, I'm going to make a short trip to the bathroom."

"Oh I completely understand Serena, don't worry about it. Take your time, I'll be here – it takes a lot of makeup to make this face look feminine." Yaten joked with me as I went into the bathroom to change into my bartender attire. When I came out, Yaten had already finished putting on his foundation and concealer– and already he was starting to look more woman-like.

"So Serena – I hate to intrude into your personal life, but how are you feeling now? I hope that you're better since the Darien escapade." Yaten remarked as he debated with himself on which eye shadow he should wear tonight.

"I am actually. In fact, if you want to know, Darien and I were set up on a date yesterday." I told Yaten, who temporarily stopped what he was doing to stare at me; completely dumbfounded.

"Really?"

"Really Yaten I kid you not."

"Well how did it go? Was he a complete and total asshole once again?"

"Actually no – he was a nice gentleman."

"That's good to hear Serena. I'm glad that someone around here is finding true love. Believe me my girl problems are high in the sky. No one wants to date a drag queen – but I've got to eat and pay the bills, so I'm going to be a drag queen for a lot longer than I originally thought." Yaten said as he went back to his makeup kit; apparently he had decided to give himself a smoky eye mixed with a bit of dark green. It looked really nice on him; I definitely would have to ask him for some makeup tips. "Anyway, remember what I said – don't let an asshole treat you badly." Yaten continued as I reached for my eye shadow.

That's when Lita came in with a huge smile on her face, she was already dressed in her Polaris attire, and it looked like she already had makeup on. _She probably came in here for gossip._

"Hi Lita! Raye told me that you get here early, I'm glad that you're here." I told her with a smile on her face. Yaten looked up and waved at her, then went back to applying his makeup.

"Hi Serena, hi Yaten." She said cheerfully as she took a quick glance at herself in the mirror, then she pulled up a chair next to me. "I heard from a little birdie that you went out on a date with Darien, how was it?"

_Shit – well I shouldn't be surprised that the whole world seems to know about my date with Darien._

"It went well actually Lita – Darien's a pretty charming guy. But we don't have to talk about me – you seemed to hit it off pretty well with Trista last night." I remarked, thankful for my quick wit in terms of changing the subject.

Lita's face turned tomato red. "Well she sure is something – we're going out on Saturday before work. I really like her. She might even stop by the club tonight, because I'm going to be working the bar with you tonight."

"That's awesome Lita! Congrats. I'm glad that you two really hit it off."

"But what about you and Darien though Serena?"

_Damn it- she's going to just bring it back to Darien isn't she? _"Like I said before, he was a nice gentleman and I enjoyed my night with him."

"What about the possibility of oh, I don't know – a second date?" Lita asked me mischievously – it was like she already knew.

"There could be a second date-" I told her hesitantly as I finished applying my eye shadow. Just then, my stomach growled loudly. _Perfect distraction! _

"What the hell was that?" Yaten asked, looking around for the source of the sound.

"Just my stomach telling me that it's time to eat. Lita could you make me a little something? I've already got my money ready." I said, handing her fifteen dollars and telling her "make me whatever you think that I would like."

"Sure – let's go to the kitchen and feed that stomach of yours." Lita replied as I packed up my makeup. I would put my lipstick on after I ate something.

In the kitchen, Lita whipped me up a large bowl of pasta with marinara sauce and meatballs, which I ate heartily with a medium-sized glass of coke.

"This is absolutely delicious Lita." I told her as I rolled the pasta around my fork, ready to inhale more of my dinner.

"I'm glad that you like it Serena. Well it's about time for me to start getting things ready in the kitchen. Just come back there and give me the plate and glass once you're finished eating okay?"

"All right. Thanks again Lita" _Sweet, my stomach made her forget all about Darien! Way to go stomach._

"One more thing though Serena…" Lita said as she opened the door to the kitchen a little.

"Yes?" I asked in mid bite.

"You're not off the hook about Darien – I want to know all the juicy details at the bar tonight." Lita told me as she walked into the kitchen.

_Damn it! Oh well, I guess I can't win every battle. _I finished the last of my pasta, downed the small bit of coke that I had left and went to the kitchen to give Lita my bowl and glass. The kitchen staff had already started getting to work under the supervision of Lita, who saw me and quickly took my bowl and plate away with a smile. She waved to me as I went back into the dressing room to apply my lipstick.

There were tons of people there – much more than I had ever seen in the dressing room, as I moved through the crowd to get to my bag, which Yaten had guarded all the while that I was gone. He was fully dressed up now – and I must admit looked like a very attractive 20-something woman.

"Don't stare too hard." Yaten joked with me as he looked at himself in the mirror. "Well I'm ready for tonight. I'm going to go and hang out backstage for a little while. I will talk to you later Serena – and by the way, if you do go out on a second date with Darien and it doesn't work out, I'm always available." Yaten said to me with a smile as he left the room – seemingly floating past people as they hurriedly put on their costumes and uniforms. _I wonder what that's supposed to mean. Oh well I'm not going to look too deeply into it. It's almost time to get to work. _I quickly took out my lipstick and applied it, making sure that it was shut tight before I placed it back in my bag. I put the bag underneath the table, and pushed myself out of the dressing room. Raye was already outside of the dressing room – telling everyone that it was almost time to open the club.

"All right people – you know the drill, let's get this show on the road! Have a great night everyone, Polaris is about to open in a minute!" She called out to everyone as she made her rounds. When she reached me she came very close to my ear and whispered, "thanks again with your help today – don't stress yourself out too much tonight, and have fun. You're the best bartender out there, so flaunt your stuff tonight all right Serena." Raye gave me a wink and left, yelling out more orders to everyone around her.

The night was going by pretty quickly, and nothing too interesting had happened. I served customers with a cheery smile – I was on top of my game tonight. Nothing could really put an end to my good mood. About two hours into the night, Lita arrived at the bar station next to mine. We had a bit of time to chitchat when Yaten appeared on stage, and less people were at the bar.

"Hey Serena – how's it going tonight? Seems like you've been doing pretty well – I was watching you while I was in the kitchen."

"It's going pretty well – I really have nothing to complain about."

"I'm so happy to hear that, especially considering past events…" Lita started – but was cut off, and I have no idea by what. She seemed to be staring into space, it was almost as if she had been completely frozen. I tried to follow the direction in which she was looking with my eyes, but it was too hard because of the changing lights.

"What is it that you see, Lita?"

"Whatever you do, don't point – we don't want him to notice us and come over here."

"Him? Who's he? Where is he?"

"Shit, he saw me! Oh please don't let him come down here. Help me Serena, please help me."

"Lita I can't do a damned thing if I don't know who he is and what he wants from you – so spill the beans and let me see what I can do."

Lita's eyes widened, "I'll be back later Serena – I've gotta go to the bathroom."

"But you just got here Lita!" She completely ignored me as she sprinted away from her station, which temporarily left me with a customer who had just came in – and had originally went to Lita's station. _Great now I have an extra customer – and maybe even more after he leaves. Whatever the trouble is, I hope that Lita comes back soon – and that she tells me so I can know what's going on._

"Hey tootse, hurry up with those pitchers of beer, we're thirsty!" The new customer, a heavy-set balding man about twice my age with rotting teeth called out to me.

"I'm coming, hold on a minute sir, I have to serve this gentleman here first since he was here before you if that's all right." I replied, looking up at him and smiling – that was a big mistake.

The man grinned cheesily up at me, "actually I kind of like being here – I don't mind the wait now that I see you. What's your name cutie?"

"It's Serena," I said after I had given the gentleman his drink, and then started to busy myself by filling the pitchers full of beer.

"Well Serena, how would you like to hang out with a high roller? I'm quite a nice man."

"No thank you – I'm not really looking for love right now" of course that was a lie, but what would I tell him that I'm technically single and available, since Darien and I aren't an official couple yet?

"That's all right – I'm not either, I like fuck buddies a lot better. Maybe you could be mine."

I cringed as I continued to fill the pitchers. _Just when my day was going fine…_

"You know Serena, you're such a beautiful girl. Plus you have such a nice rack. Why don't we get to know each other better? I'm sure that you could take a few minutes off of work to come and hang out for a while with me in my private room?"

"No sorry, I can't, and would you please refrain from using such vulgarity around me sir?" _Wow he sounds like an older version of Seiya, only he's even more persistent and disgusting. The only difference is that he doesn't seem to be as into himself as Seiya is. _I started filling another pitcher, finished it, and picked up all of the pitchers – two by two with my hands. I was ready to hand them off to the man so he could get away from me.

"Aaww come on baby, let's at least have a feel" he said as he thrust out a hand – which was quickly coming towards my breast. I grimaced and realized that there was nothing I could do – I didn't have the time to drop the pitchers and move his hand. Plus there was nowhere to go, the bar was crowded with people. Everyone was completely oblivious to my predicament. I closed my eyes, ready to start screaming for help.

"That's very inappropriate sir." A different man's voice rang into my ears. I opened my eyes, and there in front of me was the man from earlier today – Taiki. He was firmly grasping the man's wrist. "I believe that you owe the lady an apology." He said as he tightened his grip on the man's wrist.

"S-s-s-orry Serena." The man said following the tall man's instructions.

"Great, now pay for your pitchers and leave."

"Here's your money ma'am." The elder man said, handing me the money as I pushed the pitchers towards him. "Thank you." With that he got off the barstool and left.

"Wow."

"You're welcome." Taiki said, smiling at me.

"You're Taiki right? I think that we met this evening."

"Yes. I remember you – you're Serena, Raye's girlfriend's sister."

"That's right. So can I offer you a drink? It's on the house for patrons of Polaris, and also for saving me from a horrible predicament."

"Sure why not."

"What would you like?"

"Whatever you want to make me is fine – and make it cheap too, I wouldn't want you to spend too much of your paycheck on me."

"That's so nice of you – but I insist on using our finest ingredients just for you. Come on – it's not like you don't have a favorite or anything." I coaxed him. That's' when I realized that Lita had came back. She was a bit more relaxed, and was looking down at her feet when she walked. I waved and smiled at her "hey Lita, glad that you're back. Taiki here, I'm sure that you know him – since he's one of the owners of Polaris, saved me from a disgusting pervert." Lita looked up and stared at Taiki in horror.

She calmly walked over towards me, and it was apparent to me that she didn't really know what to do with herself. She seemed really frightened. "I'm going to go back to the kitchen now. That's what I came to tell you, bye Serena." She didn't even acknowledge Taiki's presence when she left. _What the hell is wrong with her? _

* * *

Author's endnote: Why is Lita afraid of Taiki? I guess we'll have to wait until chapter five. Until then, please review. Thanks all. 


	5. Author's Note

Author's note/appology: Well Harry Potter came out tonight, and next week I have four tests (two midterms and two finals)…unfortunately I did not get to finish any of my new chapters (I'm almost done with one of them) since I got swamped with homework this week - as well as there was the fact that I had a lot of studying to do. So I'm just letting all of you know in advance – that I haven't died or fallen off the face of the Earth – I'm just going to be insanely busy this week. As soon as midnight hits – that's when all the busyness starts. I don't mean to disappoint any of you - and I'm really sorry. I hope that you can all understand. I should have three chapters up (Chapter 5 of Finding Love at Club Polaris, Chapter 8 of Here Comes the Bride, and Chapter 1 of My New Bodyguard - let's just call it a ninja romance story) by the 30th of July. After that I can give you more regular updates (since I'll be done with school until August 25th when my fall semester starts). Once again I'm sorry about all of this and I hope that you understand.


	6. Hidden Feelings

Author's note: Usual disclaimer – I don't own Sailor Moon. Sorry that this is a little late but I'm back (done with summer school and of course…) – I finished Harry Potter before lunchtime last Sunday (the 22nd) (I got it at around noon on Saturday since I had it delivered by Amazon)…I'm sad that it's over – but what can I do about it? Besides that means that I can write more fanfiction right? I do love writing, and I also love everyone that sent me a review. Thank you so much – I wholeheartedly appreciate every word. I'm always excited when I get a review (you could just ask my fiancé he's always like "babe did you get another review or something?" Lol.) I have this story set in the U.S. – I don't think that I ever mentioned that before. Hopefully that doesn't ruin it's appeal. That's it this time – let's get it on with it. Read and review please!

Chapter Five: Hidden Feelings 

Taiki stared at the place where Lita had been standing seconds ago. He looked very sad – to the point where he was crushed even. "She still won't let me apologize." Taiki looked at me, "you know what – never mind about that drink Serena. I shouldn't be drinking anyway." He was about to get up and leave, when I grabbed his arm.

"Taiki, sir – maybe I can help you out. That is if you don't mind. I don't want to intrude or anything."

"You would want to do that for me?" Taiki looked at me with a sad smile. I released my grip on his arm. He decided to sit down and listen to what I had to say.

"Well why not? It's not just because you're my employer, it's also because – you could say that I really like helping people; talking to them about their problems and coming up with solutions."

"You're very sweet Serena."

"Thanks – I guess I get that a lot actually."

"It's no surprise. You seem like such a nice and trustworthy girl, that I guess I can confide in you."

I pulled up my "station is closed sign" off from behind the bar, and leaned in close to Taiki over the bar. "I'm all ears Taiki – go ahead."

The bar was crowded enough where our conversation would be private – despite the number of people surrounding us, if you can believe that. I know it sounds weird – but that happens in a club when everyone around you is so pre-occupied with other things besides listening to your conversation. Besides – since Lita was in the backroom, I wouldn't want to take Taiki there to talk. _I have to get to the root of the problem before I approach Lita._

"Well, it happened three years ago Serena – when we were just about to open up Polaris. We needed a head chef, so we searched the entire city, that's when we got a recommendation from one of the nearby culinary schools. Lita had just graduated there with high honors, and we were all really impressed by her skills. Darien and Raye, who showed interest in joining on the bandwagon eventually – really wanted her to be on the team. Lita had just turned 22 then – so I decided to take her out for her birthday, you know have a few drinks, as well as give her an interview; even though we knew by the recommendation that she was essentially perfect for the job, I was sent to make sure that we were correct in choosing her. That was mistake number one. When Lita entered the room, I was stunned to see such a beautiful woman. I didn't know what to say, I was speechless – she had to say my name about four times before I realized that she was calling me. That was so embarrassing. So I decided that I had to get some courage in order to talk to this gorgeous lady; I started drinking a lot – thinking that it would help me get more talkative and loosen up a bit. I discovered later that this was mistake number two. I started getting loud and obnoxious, which bothered Lita a lot – but I didn't realize that, so I drank a little bit more. Then out of a fit of drunken anxiety – I started acting completely unlike myself. I reached over and started grabbing Lita's breasts, I didn't want to do it – but I couldn't control my hands. She ran out in a fit – telling me that she would never work for a pervert like me as long as she lived. I don't know how Raye and Darien convinced her to join our team. Ever since then she's never talked to me – avoided me like the plague. Plus I've heard from Raye that she's not interested in men anyway – so I hurt her and made an ass of myself. I've wanted to apologize for that incident for a long time, but she refuses to talk to me." Taiki finished, tears starting to form in his eyes.

_In a way it's kind of ironic that he saved me from a drunken pervert – yet he was accused of being a drunken pervert himself. _"Taiki – I'll find a way for you to apologize to Lita." I said, patting and rubbing his right shoulder in a comforting manner.

"You'd do that for me Serena?"

"Well I don't see why not? Lita and I are friends – it was just an error in judgment on your part. I'm sure that she'll forgive you once she finds out that you made some mistakes. We're all human here, we all make mistakes – it's a natural process in life."

"You're right Serena."

"How about this Taiki…" Taiki looked up at me – trying to figure out what I was about to tell him. "I'm going to go and get Lita out of the backroom – and that way you can apologize to her. You wait right here." I said as I hurried away from my station.

I could have sworn that I heard a soft "Serena wait…" but I ignored it. If I didn't help fix this now, who knew when things would be made right? _We can't have animosity in the work place anyway – it's unhealthy. _I went to the dressing room – Lita was there, sobbing her heart out towards the back of the room near the women's bathroom.

I ran over to her and gave her a hug. I cradled her head in my arms, and petted her hair. "Shhh, it's all right Lita."

"T-t-tha-thank you. Serena." Lita said in between heaves and sobbing.

"I know what he did to you Lita – it was terrible. But, there is one thing that I want you to know." She looked up at me, tears still in her bloodshot red eyes. "He didn't mean to do what he did – he doesn't want you to think of him as a pervert for the rest of the time that you work here. He wants to apologize to you for what he did – but he's so shy around you, and you were so unwilling to hear anything that he has to say, that he hasn't been able to apologize for three years. The only reason that he drank that much in the first place was so that he would be more comfortable around you – since he had a thing for you. He might still have a thing for you, but I'm not sure. I think that you should give him a chance and listen to what he has to say Lita – at least let him apologize to you. Maybe you'll both feel better about this situation if you do. He just saved me from a drunken idiot – so I don't think that he could be that bad, even if he has a bit of a staring problem." I told her, to which she smiled and dried her tears.

"Maybe you're right Serena. I guess I never thought of it that way; I just thought of him as another perverted boss. But, I think that there's room to give him another chance – everyone deserves a second chance."

"That's right Lita – he's waiting at the bar to give you his apology if you're up for it?"

"I guess it's better late than never." Lita said and got up, "thanks Serena for helping me out with this. Everyone needs a friend once in a while."

"You're welcome."

"Will you come with me though Serena?"

"Of course I will Lita. Let's go right now." I said, grabbing her arm and walking with her to the bar where Taiki was still sitting on my barstool, playing with a few napkins, trying to fold them into a flower. My guess is that it was for Lita. I removed my sign from the bar counter, as well as Lita's since the head bartender had put Lita's sign up on the counter as well. When he heard the approaching footsteps, he looked up, quickly finished his flower, and gave Lita an uneasy smile.

He cleared his throat and stared into her green eyes with the intensity of a man who is about to ask a woman to marry him. "Will you ever forgive me Miss Lita for the horribly disgusting thing that I did to you? I assure you that I am a gentleman and would never intentionally do that to a woman. I was just so nervous to be in the presence of such a spectacular woman that I drank too much and could not control my hands. The truth is that I started to have feelings for you that day that we had our interview – and once again I'm terribly sorry for the embarrassment that I caused you. I beg of you that you will accept my apology and grant me your forgiveness. Then if you would like – I will leave you alone." He offered her the flower made of napkins, a hopeful smile on his face.

Lita stared at him – her green eyes were wide with an unreadable expression. She looked at me, I gave her a nudge, and she sighed heavily as she grabbed his rose. "I will accept your apology Taiki. But you don't have to never see me again – we can be friends." I smiled at the two of them – they were getting off to a great start.

Then I noticed the long line of people waiting for drinks – since I had failed to notice earlier that many people had decided to take their usual 10-minute breaks simultaneously. "Well I've got to get back to work, seeing as how there's this long line of people waiting to get wasted – so to speak. I'm glad that the two of you made up."

Lita gave me a smile, and Taiki mouthed the words "thanks Serena" – and I went on with my work. _Despite the fact that Taiki would probably soon learn that Lita was already in a relationship with Trista – or at least in the process of becoming an official couple, I think that now that the mistake has been forgiven, they will be pretty great friends. _A few more of the bartenders started returning to work – before I almost died from the overflow of customers that I had. Eventually a young looking girl came up to the bar and ordered a dirty Shirley. She had large purple eyes, and short hair that was so dark black that it almost looked purple as well. The girl was wearing the red band that they give to everyone who's 21 and over – but Raye told all of us to double check on the day that we got hired. You never know who the bouncers let sneak in, like younger brothers or cousins or something like that. _Damn she looks really young…well here comes the carding policy, I hate doing it but I don't want Polaris to close down for giving alcohol to a minor._

"ID please?" I asked the young girl, "sorry you know the drill…"

"Of course." She said, a pleasant smile crossing her face, "it's no problem, I get it all the time – people say that I still look like I'm 16." _I was thinking the same thing myself_. She pulled out her wallet – which displayed her ID and showed it to me. There on the card was her birth date – January 6th 1986, she had been 21 for a while then. But after I took note of her birthday – and made sure that the ID wasn't a fake, I took note of one thing that really stuck out on her ID card.

"Your name is Hotaru Tomoe?"

"Yep. That's me."

"What a pretty name" I said as I started making her drink, "that means firefly in Japanese right?"

"You're pretty clever ma'am." She said with a kindhearted smile.

"Oh please don't call me ma'am, that makes me feel so old. Call me Serena." I said with a nervous chuckle as I poured her a drink. _I really want to see if she went out with Amy yet – if this is the same Hotaru that she was talking about. I hate to spy, but I really want Amy to find a nice person to fall in love with – she really deserves it. If I can't have the love of my life then someone must be happy. I might be bitter about it later – but I have to know. Time to make small talk and figure this all out._

"So Hotaru, what do you do for a living?" I asked her – while I slowly got the ingredients for her drink, I wanted to prolong this conversation with her for as long as I could so that way I could get as much information about the date – or lack thereof.

"I'm a nurse." She said matter-o-factly as she watched me make her drink in fascination. "Sorry for the staring – I don't go to bars much, I still can't believe that I'm 21 now to tell you the truth. Plus I've never been to Polaris before – it's a pretty nice club. But …" She paused, staring at the bar counter, a light blush creeping up her face. Hotaru looked around – almost as if she was about to share a deep secret with me and she was making sure that nobody was around.

I stared at her intently, _maybe she's going to tell me something…get ready Serena. _I was giddy – but tried not to show my excitement.

"I'm kind of shy so that's why I don't really go to places like this. I don't get out much – I mostly just work. I guess I'm not really a bar scene type of person." I almost dropped her drink, my hopes had been crushed - _that's not what I wanted to hear! Oh well._ I gave her the finished drink, and she paid me for it. She took one sip and seemed to start relaxing a bit. Surprisingly though, and much to my delight, she decided to stay in the seat.

"Anyway, Serena. You know one of my friends told me that it's easy to confide in bartenders – they have this friendly aura to them most of the time."

"Yeah I guess we do." I said – somewhat disappointed. _Maybe this isn't the same Hotaru._ She started looking around again, a large red blush creeping up in her cheeks – I wasn't sure if it was from the drinking or if it was because she was embarrassed that she was talking to a bartender. _She's probably never done this kind of thing before – I guess I understand._

"Enough of my babbling Serena. I'll get to the point. I'm here to meet someone...I've been set up on a date tonight."

_Jackpot!_

"My matchmaker Mina Love told me to meet someone here. I'm very anxious about the whole thing. She's a doctor – her name is Amy, she's 25. I just need help to calm my nerves really Serena. You see, and I know that this is kind of pathetic but….I'm 21 years old and I've never been on a date in my entire life. I'm way too shy, plus I like women, and I'm so scared of rejection. I'm sorry that I'm spilling all of this information on you and using you as some kind of psychiatrist – or someone else who doesn't really care about my problems." It was amazing, Hotaru had about a shot of vodka in her and she was already telling me all about her personal life. _I would have never expected this._

"Hotaru! It's not like that at all! You shouldn't be ashamed to talk to me." I said."I'm perfectly willing to help you out. You're nervous – and that's perfectly okay for a first date."

"You think so?"

"I know so…plus Hotaru, can I let you in on a little secret of my own?"

"What's that Serena?" Hotaru asked – I think that she was hoping that I would give her dating tips.

"I think that the person that you're about to go on the date with is just as nervous as you are. Plus you were set up with her by one of the best matchmakers here in the U.S – what more could you possibly ask for?"

"You're right Serena. I think that I can get through this."

"You can, I know that you can – you seem pretty sweet Hotaru. Don't worry so much about it. Just stay calm and look forward to the date, and most importantly of all enjoy it! This might be your first date – and you're a little nervous, but so is everyone that goes on a date – like I said before. You'll be fine Hotaru, I believe in you." _I can't believe that I'm giving someone else dating advice. I guess Mina really is my sister. In personality – in some ways and in looks._

"Thank you so much Serena." Hotaru said with a bright smile as a familiar face popped up right behind hers.

"Hi Serena!" Amy called out to me from behind Hotaru.

"Hello Amy." I replied to her with a grin and a light wave. At the sound of the name, Hotaru spun around and looked at Amy whose name I had just called.

"Are you Amy Mizuno?" Hotaru asked with a shy smile on her face. Amy turned bright red, smiled politely and nodded. "I'm Hotaru. It's nice to finally meet you Amy." Hotaru held out her hand for Amy to shake.

Amy's smile grew as she shook Hotaru's hand. "I'm glad to meet you too – I've been looking forward to this date for a while."

"You have?" Hotaru's eyes brightened up, and a blush crept onto her face once she realized what she had said aloud.

You could tell that they had an immediate attraction to one another by their body language. They were leaning into each other, looking directly into each other's eyes. It was almost as if I – in fact – no one at Polaris was there anymore. They were in their own little world. _Looks like a great start to me._ Hotaru made a bold move and dragged Amy straight to the dance floor. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that they didn't want to stay and chat with me, but I knew that they were on a date and I should leave them alone and not interfere. _Interesting locale choice though Mina – they both really seem to open up here._ I just removed Hotaru's glass – that still had some of her drink in it, which is usually one of my pet peeves – but I let it go tonight.

Time seemed to roll by very quickly, and it was almost time for the part of the night, which I used to dread the most. I looked at the clock. _Darien should be on the stage very soon. _Tonight I did not really know how to feel about Darien getting on that stage and thrusting his manhood in front of people's faces. Before I could've cared less if someone tried to jump him and fuck him right there on the stage – but now that I was slightly more "involved" with Darien so to speak, I was not about to miss the events going on the stage. I was glad that the number of customers at the bar had died down considerably by the time that Darien's act was approaching. That's when I noticed – the memorable cotton candy pink hair color – bobbing up and down with the music. Rini was at the DJ booth, mixing the turntables and putting out some nice beats. _I guess they decided that her first day on the job was going to be tonight. Geez they're quick with the DJs._

The time had finally come, and Rini turned off the music temporarily for the introduction. "This is DJ Sugar Candy on the mike right now. I hope that everyone's having fun tonight?" The crowd roared their approval and Rini laughed into the microphone.

_Is it just me or is her laugh too sweet – sickeningly so? It sounds – almost evil. _I shook off the idea like a bad memory and listened to her first introduction.

"All right let's get ready for the next show, and let me tell you something – this man is too hott! He oozes sexiness with every step that he takes, and let's not forget the clothes that he's wearing – the way that the dress shirt looks on his abs. Oooh. I'd love to take off that suit and explore his body if you know what I mean. I know that more than a few of you agree with me right?" If I hadn't noticed her before – I would have right now. The audience roared with approval, a few wolf-whistles and calls of "bring him out!" Erupted from the crowd that had gathered around the stripper stage. I decided to attempt to completely ignore Rini's introduction of Darien – and the sexy dances that Darien was doing. The idea of Rini talking about Darien in such a sexual way bothered me in more ways than one. _I have to complain about this – this – inappropriate statement that had come out of Rini's mouth to someone. How could she say such things? What a dirty mind for someone so young. Plus she's underage! _I looked over and saw that Lita had stopped talking to Taiki and was also lacking customers, so I decided that she would be the ideal person to listen to my frustrations.

I leaned over to her and said, "What in the hell is a seventeen-year-old girl doing talking about taking off MY Darien's pants?" _Wait – did I just say 'my Darien?' _

"Getting a little possessive are we Serena?" Lita.

"I didn't mean…my Darien or anything. That's not what I meant to say…"

"Sure it was." Then she winked at me.

"I just meant that she shouldn't be talking like that – she's only seventeen."

"Well she's going to be eighteen at the end of the week Serena."

"That doesn't matter – she's still seventeen and she's still underage!" I said to her.

"I don't think that it matters much what Rini says about Darien. It's not like he's going to suddenly fall in love with her or anything. You're paranoid Serena." Lita said, giving me a smile, and patting me on the shoulder.

"Maybe you're right," I said – as I turned and looked toward the DJ booth and stripper stage area. Rini had stopped mixing the tracks. She was standing there, with a dreamy look on her face – greedily watching as Darien started to take off his clothes. Darien had torn and then taken off his shirt, and threw it at the audience. A mob was already starting to break out for the shirt and Rini looked as if she wanted to get into the action. Without a moment's more hesitation I saw Rini run from behind the DJ booth to get it at before anyone else. After successfully grabbing the shirt from the mob and giving it a huge hug, she ran back to her booth to continue to do her job. She put the shirt in a small space behind the turntables to make sure that it was safe from getting snatched up by anyone else. "Or maybe I should keep an eye on her just in case." I muttered mostly to myself.

"What did you say Serena?" Lita asked – a bit concerned.

"Nothing at all. You must be hearing things."

"Uh-huh." Lita said, eyeing me suspiciously as she started to clean a few cups.

The night was starting to dwindle down and I couldn't keep my thoughts off of Rini and her obsession with Darien. Eventually it was time to go home, and I was a bit thankful – _work today has been stressful in more ways than one_. I went to the women's dressing room to go and get changed then go home. The day had been pretty stressful, and I was looking forward to some comfort snacks and television before bed. I got my makeup-remover out of my makeup bag, looked up and there was Rini – standing over me, with Darien's torn shirt casually draped over her shoulder.

"Can I talk to you in private for a second Serena?"

"Sure," more out of curiosity than anything else I decided to talk to Rini. _What in the hell does she want from me?_ "Where would you like to go?"

"Back to the front of the club – I already noticed that they cleaned out the front of the club since everyone cleared out pretty quickly tonight."

"All right" I said as she led me to the front of the club and decided to sit at one of the back booths. I guessed that it was just in case the cleaning crew had missed a spot. We sat down and she stared at me, her red eyes (my guess was that they were contacts) were reading me - trying to figure out how to phrase what she was going to say.

"Serena – you were so nice to me earlier, and I have a problem that I need to talk to someone about. I think that you would be the best person – since Raye wouldn't understand, nor could I ever tell her how I feel."

"I'm all ears…" I said with hesitation in my voice – luckily Rini didn't notice it.

"Polaris is a great place to work, and I'm glad that I was given the opportunity to strut my stuff." Rini started, trying not to look at me. "But there's another reason why I really wanted this job ." My eyes widened. _Why in the hell would she want to be here besides to DJ_ – I had my suspicions but I didn't want to voice them aloud. "You see my friends are all older than me – and they go to Polaris all the time. Well, one day they told me about this man who works here - the most gorgeous guy that they've ever seen in the lives. They told me that this man's voice was deep and smooth like silk – that he had the body of an Adonis. I was determined to meet him somehow. But I wondered how I was going to get in and meet this man since I'm still underage?"

_I don't know – wait until your 18__th__ or 21__st__ birthday if this man worked at the bar. It's really sad that she'll go to these lengths to meet a man. _

"I couldn't wait any longer – and once I heard that they needed someone to be a DJ – I jumped at the opportunity. I started turning tables at a young age – so I knew that it would be easy for me to get the job – but to approach the man once I got the job would be something completely different."

"I see." I said.

"That's why I need your help Serena!" Rini said to me, her eyes pleading with me.

"What can I do to help you Rini? I don't even know who you're talking about."

Rini stared at me in shock, "You know who I'm talking about – you know him – you have to know him, I mean you work with him and all."

"Just because I work here doesn't mean that I know him." I didn't want to give it away that I already knew who she was talking about – in fact I had known ever since she gave him an introduction before his performance.

Rini leaned closer to me over the table and whispered, "Well…Darien of course." She turned bright red after she said his name, and pulled the torn shirt from its original resting place and hugged it like a teddy bear.

Anger was surging through me – but I tried not to show it. _Who does she think that she is – prancing in here like a pink fuzzball thinking that she can just come and swoop up and take Darien? Who the hell is that damned cocky?_

"Will you help me get him to notice me Serena?"

_What the fuck? _I almost wanted to pretend as if I didn't hear it. I tried to calm myself down, "well it's not like I know him very well or anything Rini…" I lied, trying to see if that will get her to leave me alone.

"Don't lie Serena – it's obvious that you know him somehow – especially after seeing the two of you together earlier today. You two were talking pretty intimately by yourselves. So I guess you must know each other well. What's he like Serena? Can you please give me tips as to how to approach him?"

_I cannot believe that a seventeen-year-old is trying to get me to give her advice on how to become Darien's girlfriend. Before I got to know Darien I would've told her that he's not worth her time, especially not for a young girl. Then again I would've loved to get him off of my case – but now…the tables have turned. Darien the man that had caused me so much grief in the past – the one that I originally dreaded to even see his face. Now he's really starting to grow on me, and I'm not about to give him up so easily._

That's when I realized something – I could lie about Darien's personality – but I felt that no matter what I told Rini she would still be attracted to him. But I had a few tricks up my sleeves. "Well Rini – Darien's a nice guy, he's funny, charming, and a real gentleman."

"Really? Plus he's gorgeous too? He's like the perfect guy." Rini said, blushing a bit as she held her head in her hands and stared up at me.

"As for how to approach him Rini – I think that it would be best if you wait for him to approach you."

"Oh. I see." Rini said – looking at me a bit crestfallen. "But if I wait for him to approach me – how will he ever notice me?"

_With that pink hair – I don't think that anyone could not notice you. _"It's not like Darien doesn't know that you exist Rini."

She practically leaped across the table at me after I said that, "did he say anything about me to you earlier today?" Hope seemed to be dancing in her eyes as she pleaded with me to tell her things.

"Well…actually no." I started thinking about the romantic second date that Darien had promised me earlier.

"So – what did you guys talk about then this afternoon? I want to know every word that came out of his mouth! I want to know everything about him."

_Fuck. Why the hell is she so pushy? _"I can't tell you that information it was a private conversation Rini." I might be actually fighting for Darien's heart at the moment – which if you had told me that on Saturday I probably would've scoffed at you first, then told you not to insult me.

"Fine. I understand – adult conversation and all of that."

"You've got that right." I said. She looked at me sadly…_why do I have a feeling that she's going to try to use the puppy dog eyes on me? _Although she never did use that trick – I couldn't help but give her some advice – and I couldn't believe the words that came out of my mouth. "Rini – you're a nice and very pretty girl. I'm sure that if you just be yourself around Darien that maybe something will come of it. Although maybe you better wait to put the charms on him until you're eighteen, I don't think that any guy around here would be comfortable dating an underage girl."

"Thanks Serena! If I can have Darien on my eighteenth birthday this Sunday – then it will be the best birthday present ever!" At that she ran off happily – almost like a little girl with Darien's torn shirt gripped tightly in her hand.

_Well I didn't mean that you were going to have a date with him on your birthday or anything. She's really going to get her hopes up – especially since she's turning eighteen on Sunday – that's the day of Darien and my date, but she doesn't have to know that or anything._

I got up from the table and went back to the backroom to change and get ready to go home. As soon as I opened the door to the women's changing room – I noticed that barely anyone was there. _Geez everyone wanted to get out tonight I guess_. Lita was still there and completely still in her work clothing and makeup; she once told me that normally she gets to work earlier and leaves later than the other employees. As soon as I entered the room Lita noticed me – and we both started getting into our civilian attire.

"So I saw that Rini pulled you away for a minute. What did she want?"

"To tell me that she has a thing for Darien." I half-growled.

Lita stared at me in surprise. "Serena don't tell me that you're jealous of a seventeen-year old girl? Especially when you're the one that Darien's taking out for dates."

"Nah that's not what really bothers me." This was somewhat of a lie, but I wouldn't want to tell Lita the truth. "She told me that the main reason why she took the DJ job so she could go out with Darien."

"Seriously?" Lita asked, the shock was very obvious in her voice, "she should take the opportunity more seriously. Polaris is a wonderful starter job – especially for DJs. If going out with Darien is the only reason why she wants to DJ here then she shouldn't be here. If Raye finds out about this – then Rini should consider herself fired."

"I know – that's why I'm not going to tell Raye."

"You're not?"

I shook my head, "she's just got a little crush on him – and I think that being a DJ is really what she wants to do with her life – she just picked Polaris for a somewhat superficial reason. I think that she's so talented that she would've ended up here eventually anyway." That was my way of convincing myself – as well as Lita that Darien was just a fling for Rini, next week she might fall in love with another stripper – or maybe even one of the bartenders, who knows?

"I think that you're right Serena." Lita said as she pulled her blouse over her head. "I'm just glad that you're not bursting out in a jealous rage because she has a crush on Darien. To think though – a couple of days ago you hated Darien's guts."

"Well times change." I chuckled as I pulled on a pair of jeans.

"Speaking of Darien though…"

"Yes Lita?"

"You never told me how the date went – and remember I want every juicy little detail." Lita said to me with a smile and a wink.

I decided to give in, as we finished up changing and taking off our makeup – I told her about the date, and how Darien has planned a romantic second date for the two of us on Sunday.

"Sounds lovely Serena. You two really seemed to hit it off. But I could've told you that you guys would be a nice couple from right off the bat." Lita said with a grin.

"You're just saying that Lita."

"No – I'm not. Despite the fact that you guys were fighting before – I could just smell the sexual tension in the air."

We laughed and grabbed our bags – getting ready to leave. As we walked out the door Raye stopped by since she had to lock up the club tonight.

"Everyone's out of the dressing room?"

"Yes ma'am." I told Raye with a salute.

"Very funny Serena. You two seem to be in a very chipper mood today – especially after what happened earlier." Raye said looking at Lita sympathetically.

Lita nodded and gave her a small smile, "but everything's all right between me and Taiki now so it doesn't matter anymore."

"You're right Lita – I'm sorry to even bring it up." Raye said a bit guiltily.

"It's no problem, I mean you knew about it – Serena knows about it now since she helped us make up. It all turned out fine." Lita said.

"All right then, well goodnight to both of you – I'm going to finish locking up." Raye said with a smile.

Lita started walking ahead of me, when Raye grabbed my shoulder and quickly whispered in my ear, "someone's waiting for you outside. See you tonight at home – maybe." She smiled at me and gave me a wink and a little push. I turned a bright shade of red and followed behind Lita.

I opened the door and noticed that Darien was standing on the other side of it – waiting for me. Lita took this as her cue to go. "Goodnight Serena – see you tomorrow."

Darien waited for Lita to leave – which she did pretty quickly. He stared at me with a small smile on his face. "I hope that my waiting for you – doesn't bother you so much. Maybe I am somewhat of a creepy stalker."

We chuckled at the joke, "no – I'd like to think of you as my not-so-secret admirer." I told him as I stared into his blue eyes. At that very second – I knew what was about to happen, usually I don't let it happen until later – but with Darien I just couldn't resist.

Darien leaned down a little bit, still staring into my eyes, and gave me a kiss – a very light kiss on the lips. It was like a taste of what was to come. His lips were soft and tender against mine, and despite my initial feelings toward Darien – I wanted to kiss him more – but decided that this teasing preview would be great for now. But one thing really perturbed me as I broke free from the kiss with Darien. I could have sworn that I saw a few tendrils of cotton candy pink hair in the moonlight, and the soft sounds of sobbing in the distance. Guilt crept from my stomach all the way to my throat – she must have seen him outside on her way out and wanted to stay to see who he was waiting for. I could not explain why I felt guilty for doing this – I mean technically I wasn't doing it behind Rini's back, and if Darien and I kept on going out our lips would've met each other eventually. There was just something about it that made me feel horrible.

"I-I-I have to go." I murmured to Darien. "Sorry – thanks for waiting for me, I'm really happy that you did."

Darien stared at me with a confused smile as I put my stuff in my Land Rover, and then walked back towards him. I smiled, and gave him a kiss on the cheek – and an immediate blush crept across his face. I grinned with pleasure, it was so cute that Darien was blushing just from me kissing him on the cheek – but I had other things to worry about at the moment. "I'll see you tomorrow – and I can't wait for Sunday." I told him as I took his hand, gave it a little squeeze, then ran to my car. I had to go home and think about this over some hot tea, cookies, and the television.

Author's endnote: Interesting turn of events I guess? Anyway – hopefully I can get the next chapter to you soon, . I'm getting on a plane to go to my parent's house on Wednesday – so maybe later on in the week.


	7. A Bit of Paranoia

Author's note: It took me a long time to figure out what to call this chapter – and I wrote most of it while I was on a plane back to my parent's house. So let's hope that it's as good as when I'm writing on terra firma. I don't own Sailor Moon and remember once again that Serena's thoughts are in _italics._ Anyway…here we are.

**Chapter Six: A Bit of Paranoia**

I had gotten home fine last night – eaten my tea and cookies, and then fallen asleep on the couch in front of the TV with a full stomach. When I woke up – it was almost as if the events of the previous night had become twisted – as if they were a part of some horrible nightmare. The first thing that hit me when I woke up was the sensation of someone watching me; as if Rini's pink eyes – that had turned red from anger were peering at me into the house from the bushes in front of our house. The room stank of treachery– one that I felt I should have never committed, but then again was I really betraying Rini at all? I shrugged the feeling off and a new smell entered my nose – the pleasant smell of Mina's cooking.

"Good afternoon Serena." Mina said as she entered the room with a plate filled with bacon, eggs, french toast, and a glass of orange juice and then set them in front of me. "You're up later than usual today, it's already 2:30pm."

"Wow breakfast in bed, well sorta. You didn't have to do that for me Mina. I know that I'm waking up really late, I had a long night last night and I didn't get off of work until late."

"I know – Raye told me all about it, that's why I decided to be a nice big sister today." Mina said grinning at me and taking a seat in one of the plushy chairs that occupied our living room.

_Mina doesn't wake up in the morning and decide to be a lovely big sister to me. The very words 'Raye told me' are also way to suspicious to be thought of as a casual remark. _"What do you want Mina?"

Mina blushed "am I really that obvious?"

"Let's see, I've lived with you for how many years of my life? You would think that by now I would be able to tell when my own sister was bullshitting me."

"You're right Serena."

"Spill it Mina." I said, grabbing the fork and knife that Mina had brought with my breakfast and starting to eat hurriedly. I guess that paranoia and guilt can do that to a girl.

"Raye told me that Darien was waiting for you last night, and that she overheard part of a conversation that you two had while at Polaris."

_My favorite raven-haired employer strikes again._

"So tell me, what are you planning to do with Darien? As your matchmaker I have a right to know." Mina said emphasizing the words 'as your matchmaker.'

"You mean Darien never told you? Never consulted with you about this?"

"No actually – I find it to be a bit peculiar, but I've had more bizarre clients than I can possibly ever count. Anyway, tell me dear sister, what are you and Darien up to this Sunday?"

It was almost as if Mina had already known every detail and was just hounding me for info because she was scared that Raye was incorrect – or maybe that she had missed some information concerning the date scheduled for Sunday.

"I think that you already know everything Mina. But I'll re-inform you…"

"And of course tell me what happened when Darien waited for you last night, something must have happened then. Maybe since you didn't get one on Sunday…you might've gotten a big juicy kiss!" Mina declared, leaning in closer towards me to see if my cheeks betrayed what my mind already knew. The kiss replayed itself in my head, followed by the sight of Rini's cotton candy pink hair in the distance. It was almost as if once I got the thought out of my head, it wanted to make a re-occurring visit. To try to get the thought out of my head once and for all I thought about the kiss once again, and to Mina's triumph my cheeks turned a bright shade of red. "Ah-ha! Just as I suspected."

_The benefits as well as the problems of having your sister as your matchmaker – she has to immerse herself completely in your personal life. If it doesn't work out with Darien, maybe I'll go looking for love all by myself, and definitely not at Polaris because then Raye will tell Mina all about it._

Reluctantly I informed Mina about the planned date scheduled for Sunday as well as the kiss that we had shared last night. I did not talk to her at all about the events, which had taken place with Rini and how I had probably ruined her life by kissing my own…well whatever the hell you want to call Darien and myself.

"Wow Serena, sounds like you two are really hitting it off! Am I good or am I good?" Mina declared, dancing around happily.

"Believe what you want to Mina – but you're acting like some celebrity is coming to our house or something. All he did was ask me to go on a second date; he didn't get down on one knee and ask me to marry him or anything like that.

"Well I know that." Mina said, "besides Darien's a pretty romantic guy so I doubt that he would pick the outside of Polaris to ask you to marry him anyway."

_First Mina was determined to find me a date, now that she's found me one she's determined to get him to marry me even though we have yet to go on a second date. What has the world come to?_

"Um sure Mina." By this time I had already finished my brunch and decided that it would be best to take a shower and get ready for the new day, instead of just lounging around the house with Mina around – constantly hounding and bothering me about Darien. Going to work early had started to become a ritual anyway. "I'm going to go and take a shower then get ready for work." I told Mina as I got up from the couch.

"Already? So early Serena? It's not like you to be early for things usually you know? I mean don't you want to stay here and chat some more!"

_Hell no that's why I'm leaving Mina!_ "I like going to work early, get my station set up – chitchat with Lita and some of my other friends."

"I know but we hardly get to chat anymore since I'm always so busy with work and all." Mina said and at that very moment, much to my delight her phone went off. Mina looked at the caller id, "oh hold on a second Serena – I have to take this phone call it's from one of my clients. I can't wait to hear how the date went. Hello?" Mina said as she stepped into the kitchen – away from my ears, which were sometimes prone to a bit of eavesdropping. _Yeah the confidentiality policy apparently applies to everyone except for me._

About a minute later Mina returned she really seemed to be in a rush. She quickly grabbed her purse and car keys from the small table in the living room. "Listen Serena – I've got to go! Duty calls…"

"So you're leaving to go to the office right now?"

"Well I've got to be there to help out my customers…I can't sit around here and play big sister to you all day you know. You're 24 – almost 25 years old, you've got to start doing things for yourself sis." She giggled.

"Screw you!" I told her with a laugh and took a pillow and threw it at her playfully.

Mina let out a little scream, and I was about to grab for another pillow when Mina said between laughs "all right Serena! I've got to go to work now."

"Fine – I'll see you tomorrow then, unless you're still up when I get back."

"Who knows…we might be." Mina said giving me an obvious wink as she left the room.

"Oh hell no Mina! You two better not be making the mattresses squeak by the time that I get home." I yelled after her as I heard the door slam behind her. _Mina seems to always have sex on her mind, what a matchmaker. _Now no one was home – which was a change, I had no idea where Raye was – and maybe it was better that I didn't. _I mean she had told Mina about the whole thing with Darien last night, plus she eavesdropped on my important conversation._ The more I thought about it the more angry I got, so I decided that it would be best if I just got ready to go to work. I had just finished putting on my lipstick (or the final touch as I like to call it) when my doorbell rang. _Who the hell could that be?_ As I ran downstairs to answer the door a million thoughts were swimming through my head. _Is it Rini? Could she be here to tell me off for what happened last night? _I shook that thought away since Rini didn't know where I lived – at least that's what I assumed to be true._ Maybe it's Lita and she's here to give me some sweets – maybe even carpool to work? But I'm not sure if Lita would feel like making food especially for me since she can just do that at work. It could be Michelle and Amara wanting to invite me for breakfast again – well even if it is I just had breakfast so I'm not hungry. Then there's Darien…what if he came over here to tell me that our date for Sunday is off or something? I don't know what I'd do if he said that…_the closer I got to the door, the more nervous I became. I seemed to think of tons of people who could be at the door, even the possibility of Raye coming home and ringing the doorbell because she couldn't remember for the life of her which of her many keys was the house key. The doorbell rang once again as my hand reached to the door handle and I started to apply a light downward pressure on it to open it. _Why the hell am I so nervous and hesitant? Why can't I just open the door? _With that I just flung open the door and to my surprise it was no one that I had thought of earlier. Instead an emerald haired Trista was standing before me, smiling.

"Hello Serena. How are you today?" She said with a smile, then gazed at my dumbfounded look in confusion. "It looks like someone's not happy to see me. Maybe I should come by another time?"

"Oh! No-no-no-no! I was just getting ready for work you see. I'm sorry – you just surprised me that's all. Um, come in, it's wonderful to see you."

"Thank you Serena." Trista seemed to glide into the room and took a seat on the couch, which I had been sleeping on earlier. _I really hope that I didn't drool on the couch or anything. _I cringed a little bit, making sure that Trista didn't see my facial expression.

"Would you like something to drink or munch on? I'm not the best cook in the world but Mina made some cookies yesterday and I could easily make you some tea, I'm pretty good at that…" I babbled, _why the hell is she here? _My curiosity was peaked – even though I knew that it was time to play hostess, I really was curious as to why Trista was here and not immediately asking if Mina was around – then leaving when she found out that Mina wasn't here.

"Oh no that's fine Serena, thank you." Trista said, smiling. "I just had lunch not too long ago."

"Okay. So, unfortunately Mina's not here right now – she went to work. If you want to go and see her at her office or something…"

"Actually I'm not here to see Mina. I'm here to talk to you Serena."

"Me?" I said in a surprised little squeak, _shit I didn't mean to let that out._

"Yes you Serena, now come and sit down next to me." She said, patting the cushion next to her. "I have a very urgent matter to talk to you about – and it can't wait."

"Oh all right." I said and uncomfortably plopped myself on the couch.

"Well you see…" Trista began, and her cheeks started to turn bright pink. "I have this date with Lita on Saturday before she goes to work…"

"Uh-huh." I said – I realized that in times like these it's best to play dumb. Simply because if I had told her 'I know' or something like that – she probably would have gotten mad at me and left, I mean I feel that way all of the time when Raye and Mina do that kind of thing to me. So it's like that saying do unto others and all of that stuff.

"I just had a few questions that I'd like to ask you about Lita. I figured that since you work with her, and I know that Raye does too – but you seem to like me better than Raye ever will…" - _well Raye is the jealous type – _"you could probably help me out with this whole situation."

"Sure, I know Lita decently well enough I guess. Ask away." I said with a smile. _Trista's not a bad person at all – it's just a bit awkward getting asked all of these questions about Lita by someone that used to bang Mina during college._

"Do you by chance know what type of flowers that Lita likes? I really wanted to surprise her with a bouquet on our first date. I'm into the more traditional sort of romance – the stereotypical kind is what a few people would call it. Anyway, I love surprising the person that I'm dating." Then Trista seemed to do a complete one-eighty in her mind concerning the flowers. "But oh shit, what if she doesn't like flowers or if she's allergic to them. I didn't even think about that…" _She seems so anxious and nervous about the date – she must really like Lita._

"Lita's favorite flowers are roses. She even has a pair of pink rose earrings. I don't think that she wore them the day that you guys met."

"Any particular color?"

"I trust your judgment Trista."

"What about chocolates? Any particular kind of favorites? She's a chef so I don't want to give her just any ordinary chocolate – it might be beneath her or something. Does she like truffles? Or is she more of a Belgian milk chocolate girl? Maybe she's allergic to chocolate – I've met a few people who are – but as a chef I wouldn't think of her like that. Maybe she doesn't prefer chocolate? Another candy or some other kind of sweet perhaps?"

"Well last time that I checked Trista – I barely know a woman on earth who won't refuse chocolate – especially not Lita. She loves using truffles in her recipes – so maybe a chocolate truffle; raspberry chocolate truffle would be great for her. I think that any kind of chocolate and flowers that you get Lita will make her happy Trista, you can't go wrong with Lita."

"I also need to know Serena…this is more important than flowers or whether or not I should bring her chocolates on our first date." Trista said, looking at me – tears seemed to be forming in the corners of her eyes. "Who was that man that she was with at Polaris last night? They seemed to hit it off quite well…and really if she was already in a relationship I didn't think that she would do this to me. We seemed to have a connection – or so I thought. Also she told me that she was into women…didn't mention anything about being a bi-sexual that I can recall."

_So Trista did show up to Polaris last night…maybe she saw Taiki and Lita talking together so she left – heartbroken. _"I can assure you Trista that Lita only likes women – and she's very interested in you. I didn't want to tell you this before but last night at work all she could do last night was gush about how wonderful your date is going to be on Saturday. She was really looking forward to it."

"So who then was that man Serena?" Trista asked – I was still in shock at this point concerning the way that Trista was acting. All of the times that I had ever seen her – she never acted like this around Mina. My guess is that she had really fallen for Lita hard and now her insecurities were taking over.

"That was Taiki – one of the owners of the bar…" I said – not sure about how much I should reveal to Trista. I thought that maybe it was Lita's job. "See he offended her and he was apologizing, that's all. I can assure you that Lita's only into you – and she's definitely not interested in Taiki at all."

The tears were still in the corners of Trista's eyes, but now they were no longer threatening to fall onto her pretty face. "Oh thank you Serena! I'm sorry to come here on such short notice and bombard you with all of these questions. It's just that I really like Lita and I was a bit worried. To me it was like love at first site and well…" now I'm babbling. Trista said, laughing a bit and wiping away tears with the back of her hand as a small smile started to come onto her face.

"Don't worry Trista – I completely understand. I think that it's part of human nature…so I don't think that you're bizarre or weird or anything like that for coming and chatting with me for a while. Besides I'm a nice person and I don't bite."

Trista smiled – a nice big one this time, "you're so sweet Serena. Can I give you a hug possibly?" Trista asked politely the tears were almost completely gone from her eyes.

"Well I don't see why not right? Go ahead." I said and Trista gave me a quick but tight embrace.

"I'm sorry to just run in and run out like this – but I've got to get back to work. We've got an important project that we're dealing with right now." Suddenly her phone rang, she fished it out of her bag and then gazed at the person who was calling. Trista shook her head and put the phone back into her purse. "That's my sister calling again – she's a psychologist. I don't know what happened to the confidentiality laws around here" _hell neither do I Trista, I think that Mina got rid of them years ago when it comes to talking about me. _"My sister will always come home and talk to me about her patients. Especially this one poor young girl who does everything to try to stand out – even dye her hair pink you know? But that's neither here nor there. Thank you so much once again Serena. I really appreciate all of the advice as well as the resolution to my confusion that you provided." Trista said, getting up from her chair and walking towards the front door.

"Sure no problem. Actually, let me escort you out." I replied, _did she say dying her hair pink? Is that a coincidence or could that potentially be Rini? I shouldn't ask her – client confidentiality and all plus who knows how much she actually knows about the girl, that all depends on how much her sister tells her. _I got up from the couch and led her outside, she smiled at me again as she left, and waved goodbye once she got into her car. I stood there and watched her leave – my mind in deep contemplation. _Great what if that IS Rini? She might be a psychopath killer ready to skin and gut me because I've gone on one date and had one kiss with a certain real estate business owner/stripper by the name of Darien 'the businessman.' _I groaned out loud as I decided that I needed to get out of this house – the idea of a psychotic Rini running around ready to murder me since I was home alone had started to eat away at me ever since Trista had mentioned the words psychiatrist and pink-haired girl. _Let's just hope that there's tons of pink haired chicks at Polaris today._

I quickly grabbed my keys, purse, and bag with my change of clothes and ran full speed to my car – not forgetting to lock the front door behind me. There was no way that I wanted a creepy Rini who was driven mad with jealousy to enter my house – subdue Mina and Raye, then come to kill me! Of course my imagination is running wild right now, but I can't help it. _I mean a little paranoia never hurt anyone right? It's not like I'm going insane from all of this. _I started the car and looked in my rear-view mirror, there was nothing behind me. I backed out of the driveway and gunned it full speed to Polaris. Once I got to the club I noticed that there were a few cars in the employee parking lot, which was absolutely wonderful. I went to the door, checking around for any pink-haired seventeen-year-old young ladies that might be coming in for work – seeing none I opened the door and after taking a breath entered the club. Everything looked normal. Raye was there barking orders at the setup/cleanup crew to get ready for work, although she wasn't too busy to smile and wave at me. I went to go set my bag in the women's dressing room, calming myself down as I reached the place where I often sat to change into my civilian attire after work every night. I put my stuff down, turn around to leave – and there in the opening of the door is the person who had been invading my thoughts all day.

Author's endnote: Sorry for the super short chapter…I'm just so occupied at the moment (my parents are trying to drag me into doing all of this stuff while I'm here at their house – when all I want to do is relax – something that I don't do much when I'm at my apartment or even sometimes at my fiance's house. So I apologize for all of this – I mostly only get to write really early in the morning it's the only part of the day where I actually have time to do it and write a semi-decent chapter). I was going to make this into a longer chapter, but in my usual style I decided that I might just go with a cliffhanger. Don't worry though – the next chapter should be coming relatively soon – I don't want to keep you guys waiting for too long.


	8. Lita's Excellent Plan

Author's note: sorry about the wait (busier around here than I originally though)…as usual I don't own Sailor Moon; Serena's thoughts are in italics. Also you know the drill – read and review please! Thanks to my latest reviewers – raye85, Mamoru's Playmate, fantasyluv, and MoonWriter1! I'm sorry that I've been bad with the thank yous lately (and I really appreciate you fantasyluv – you seem to be a huge fan of this story, and have been sticking with me since day one! Makes me so happy you have no idea.). Anyway, this chapter will introduce two people from the Sailor Moon movies (read to find out, I hope that you won't be disappointed) as well as someone from a certain series of Sailor Moon (I won't tell you which one) that may be familiar. I hope that you like the way that they're portrayed – it's a bit different from the manga/anime. Onto the story…

**Chapter Seven: Lita's Excellent Plan**

Rini entered the room in a confident and casual manner, her eyes avoiding me. I was so nervous that I nearly shit myself. The issue that was bothering me all day today was finally here – confrontation was in the air, and I didn't like it one bit. "Hello Serena." Rini said to me in a cheerful tone as she put her stuff down and proceeded to sit in a chair a couple of feet away from me. "So how are you since we talked last night?" She asked me as she looked into the mirror, then grabbed a few things out of her bag.

"Me?" I asked with a slight panic in my voice. "I'm perfectly fine. Couldn't be better – why do you ask?"

"Just curious." Rini said – still avoiding me with her eyes, pulling out her DJ uniform as well as a small makeup kit.

"Oh – I see. Well I've got to get going Rini…help with setup and all."

"I know Serena. See you later." Rini said, I turned around because I couldn't even look at her anymore. I walked out of there as quickly as I could – lost in my own thoughts.

_Why in the hell do you feel so guilty about kissing Darien? Just because a seventeen-year-old has a crush on him? Darien's twenty-eight years old, he's not even interested in her – and if he was it would be a crime in this state! So don't worry about it…_ then bang, I bumped right into someone very hard. "Ouch!" I yelled out, rubbing the top of my head which had collided with a very hard chest – that of none other than Darien's.

"Serena, I'm sorry about all of that." Darien said, "I wasn't really looking where I was going."

"Neither was I." I laughed nervously.

"I'm glad that I ran into you – despite the fact that I didn't exactly want it to be like this. Can I talk to you for a second?" Darien asked me with a concerned smile on his face.

"Yeah…sure." I told him, curious to know what exactly he wanted to talk to me about. He took my arm and led me to a place that I had never been – the boss' office. _He's not going to fire me is he? Tell me that he never wants to see me again? What does he want to tell me…ooh I'm so nervous! _We walked into the room and then Darien closed the door behind us. He pulled out a chair for me, then pulled the chair out from around his desk. Darien had positioned the two chairs so that they were facing each other. The boss' office was shared by Raye, Taiki, and him, so there weren't that many personal items in the room at all. The only thing that made the office stand out was the nice laptop that Darien had on his marble desk (latest version of a Sony desktop, which was custom made might I add), the word 'Polaris' written largely in white across the walls – which had the same colors as the club. Papers were neatly stacked on the desk, and I also noticed a collection of books behind the desk as I still stood up nervously as Darien took his seat.

"Have a seat Serena, don't be so nervous. So…" Darien started out hesitantly. "Something came up earlier today that I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay." I replied, still nervous as hell as I sat down in the chair.

"Rini came into my office earlier…."

_What the fuck? He dragged me in here to talk about Rini?_

"And she told me some interesting things about you Serena. She said that you two had gotten awfully close – and yesterday you had a personal talk."

I was shocked. _What the hell is going on? Maybe she told Darien that she likes him and he's telling me that our date on Sunday is cancelled because he's fallen in love with her? Damn those younger girls…I didn't think that it would be happening this early to me…I mean I'm only twenty-four but here it is already._ "Yes we did Darien…" I replied, biting my tongue.

"She told me that you revealed a lot of things about yourself. Like how you are dating two guys and you can't decide on who is right for you, so you've decided to date them both and see which one works out the best."

_That fucking little lying bitch! I'll kill her, I will! Forget feeling sorry for her, I'm going to get that little cotton candy haired whore. Who the fuck does she think that she is? I helped her get this fucking job. _That's when the sudden realization hit me as well, _that's why she couldn't look me in the eye earlier. _"Listen Darien." I said a bit more angrily than I intended to, "I'm not dating anyone else but you! For your information I was really looking forward to Sunday's date, but if you want to cancel it because you believe in some horribly false concocted story that a jealous girl made up – then fine by me. I didn't think that you were that kind of person." I said, getting up angrily and ready to storm through the door, when Darien quickly got up from his chair and blocked it before I could get to the doorknob. I looked up into those wonderful blue eyes of his and dared him to continue to stop me as I tried desperately to make passes at the door – each of them unsuccessful.

"Calm down Serena! I didn't mean to get you mad or anything, I just wanted to hear your version of the story. Really I did, that's why I called you in here."

"Yeah…well I don't really believe it. You're more interested in that pink-haired not even legal yet small wonder of a DJ than me." I said, again looking up into his beautiful blue eyes angrily…the longer I stared into those eyes though the less angry I got, and the more I wanted to burst out in tears. Now it was just a matter of getting out of the room so I could go to my car and have a good angry cry, which I hadn't had since the day that Seiya and I broke up.

"That's not true Serena. I just wanted to know because…well…if you must know the truth…" Darien said, blushing a bit. _He's very adorable when he blushes…how can I stay mad at a face like that? _"I've really been falling hard for you, and it would break my heart if you were interested in someone else other than me. I wouldn't be able to handle it; I barely even know you and yet you seem to be my dream girl. That's why I had to know the truth." He said, smiling down at me. I just melted inside. _He's so sweet and caring…_I smiled back at him happily, the angry tears that had been forming in my eyes started to turn to tears of joy. Before I knew it, I was crying into Darien's nice business suit that he would probably end up stripping off today.

"I'm….I'm….sorry…." I wailed, and he was at first a bit surprised, but he wrapped his arms around me in a gentle embrace, and gave me a little kiss on my forehead. He waited for me to calm down, and I did somewhat quickly. "If you must know the truth…" I started with a sniffle, "Rini and I did have a talk last night Darien. But it wasn't about me at all."

"Oh?" He said a bit surprised, gazing down at me gently with those blue eyes.

"It was about her…well…I promised not to tell but, now that I found out that she lied what choice do I have?" I said to him, and he continued to gaze down at me smiling.

"You don't have to tell me Serena, let Rini keep her secret. If she ever wants to tell me, then I'll be all ears." He said to me softly, I nodded.

"Okay…" I said, staring at his soft lips, then back at his blue eyes, then at his soft lips again.

"So…am I still guaranteed a date this Sunday with the most beautiful woman that I know?" He asked with a smile, holding me closer to him.

"Yes you…" I started, as he started moving down towards my lips, and before I knew it the magical sensations from the previous night were back. My heart started beating faster as his lips melded with mine, his arms around my waist gently holding me against him. I became so lost in the kiss that I barely even realized that someone was opening the door until it was too late. Darien fell forward, pushing me down with him onto the ground – luckily we were far enough away from the desk where neither of us got injured. But we looked to be in a pretty compromising position by the time that the person entered the room.

There was a small yelp of "oh sorry!" As Taiki had entered – then quickly left the room.

"Guess it's hard to get a moment of privacy in the office." Darien joked, as he got off of me and stood up, then helped me up. "Sorry about that Serena. Didn't mean to land on you like that."

"Don't worry about it Darien. I'm fine." I said with a smile. "Well I think that that's probably a sign that I should go and get to work…I guess that I'll see you around, won't I?" I said to him with a smile as I went for the door.

"Goodbye lovely one." Darien said, also going for the door, and giving me another gentle kiss on the forehead as he opened it for me.

I left the office feeling a million times better than when I entered it. But there was still the manner of Rini, just because I made up with Darien didn't mean that I was going to let her get away with this. _No way in hell is she going to get away with what she did. Screwing up my relationship just because she wants Darien. _I decided that I couldn't act on this alone, and that I really needed a plan – even a partner in crime to help me out. But who could I trust? Telling Raye about all of this would be a fate worse than death for Rini, and although I might enjoy the first two minutes of it – I decided that it was in my better judgement not to consult Raye on this one. _She might think of me as an accomplice for keeping the secret, and then skin me alive! _I started walking towards the dressing room, peaked in, and there to my delight were Lita and Yaten. _Just the two people whom I really wanted to see…_I ran into the dressing room to talk to my two closest work friends.

"Hey Serena! What's up?" Lita asked me cheerfully, a bright smile on her face.

Yaten was getting ready as usual, and waved his spare hand in a hello gesture as he applied his mascara with the other hand.

Before I even opened my mouth to say hello, I checked the bathroom and underneath the makeup stations to see if my pink-haired nemesis was hiding there. Then I went to the dressing room door and closed it then locked it. No one would be coming for about another half an hour, so I figured that it would be okay for now.

"Wow Serena…geez, umm, are you okay?" Lita asked, as I pulled up a chair next to her as she opened her makeup bag to retouch some of her makeup.

"Guys I have a problem. A large – pink-haired problem."

"Ooh. Do tell, I'm listening." Yaten said, a horrible frown creeping onto his face. "She is pretty annoying…that voice of hers alone drives me up a wall." He said, "don't know how Raye puts up with such a niece." He continued angrily.

"Why what did she do to you?" I asked

Yaten sighed heavily, "well I saw her a few minutes ago when she left – before Lita got here. She told me that she hopes 'that all of the makeup will help to mask my ugly personality, either that or cover up the fact that you have a penis.' She also told me that I make a disgusting woman but at least I look better all dolled up in woman's attire than I do as a man, then she kicked me in the nuts for good measure. What the hell is wrong with her? I didn't do a damned thing to her and yet she's attacking me!" Yaten said, angrily pounding the makeup station with his fist.

"I think that she just has a personal vendetta against all men and she's taking it out on you Yaten. Nothing personal. But yeah umm, are you going to tell someone about her kicking you in the jewels?"

"Nah. The little bitch will get what's coming to her – oh she will, just a matter of time." Yaten said nastily as he grabbed a container of lipstick in rage.

"Oh-kay." Lita said a bit hesitantly, "ummm – take it easy there buddy!" She proceeded to pat and rub his back a little.

"I'm fine!" Yaten replied through gritted teeth.

"Well – I guess that we could hear your side of the story then too Serena." Lita said with a small smile, trying to hide her nervousness about Yaten's temper. I too was nervous – because I had never seen Yaten like this, and frankly I never wanted to see him act this way ever again. "If that's all right with you Yaten…"

"What did she do to you Serena?" Yaten asked tensely as he turned around to face me, teeth bared and all. I gulped aloud, sweating bullets then I told them about what Rini did to me and asked for advice on how the problem should be dealt with.

"That's terrible that she would try to mess up your relationship with Darien!" Yaten practically screamed, then I quickly shushed him. "What the fuck is wrong with saying that? You two are in a relationship aren't you?"

"Well…I guess…technically – we're starting to come together as a couple." I replied hesitantly. "But I wouldn't say that we're full-blown boyfriend and girlfriend yet. I've only gone out on one date with him you know."

"Yeah and received two kisses from him." Lita added, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

_Maybe I should've left that part out. _"Well whatever Darien and I are classified as – we're both attracted to each other." To think that a while ago I would've never even accepted the idea of liking Darien as a friend – much less a boyfriend.

"I say let that little…" Yaten started – but stopped after a disapproving glare from Lita.

"Serena I don't think that you should do anything about it – if you do something like tell Raye you might be stooping to her level. I say that what we need to do is try to get her interested in someone else, or just plain old convince her that Darien isn't worth her time."

"Nice idea Lita – but wouldn't it be good if Darien was included in this plan?"

"If the time comes for him to be included then he will join the ranks. If this fails though – Raye might have to be told that her little niece has a huge thing for Darien."

"Well – despite the fact that I was really angry at her earlier, I don't want her to get fired! She does love doing the DJ job after all." I told them, _I can't believe that I'm defending the pink-haired brat. _

"I guess you're right about that Serena." Lita added, but like I said before – there is a chance that we can get her to divert her attention away from Darien."

"Really? How's that?" I asked, this was going to be good – no better than good! _I'm sure that Lita's come up with a wonderful plan._

"First of all – Yaten are you in on this?" Lita asked, and Yaten nodded – still angry but refusing to speak at this point. "All right then. Well as you know there are plenty of people that hang out at Polaris – but we don't want Rini going with just any person. Also I don't think that it would be a good idea for her to go out with one of the strippers – no offense Yaten."

"None taken – I don't think that any of my brethren would want to go out with the likes of her!" He spat, if I hadn't known that Yaten's pride had been hurt before, I would know now.

"So, for a new love interest I say that we pick someone who's handsome like Darien, nice body, intelligent – almost everything that you said Rini adores about Darien. I've picked three perfect candidates here at Polaris that I guarantee you that Rini hasn't met yet. But judging by the way that they usually act, I think that they might be interested in Rini."

"Well spit it out already Lita – you're leaving me here on the edge of my seat!" I said, literally almost falling out of my seat at Lita's clever idea.

"Sorry about that Serena. So the three people that I have in mind work are part of the kitchen staff. I'm sure that Rini won't mind a guy who can cook as well as a handsome face right?"

"If Rini loves food as much as I do – I think that she'll be happy, besides Darien can cook too – well he told me that anyway; let's hope that he told Rini as well." I giggled, this was too good.

"As for who they are, if you want since we're all done getting ready..." Lita said looking from herself to Yaten – who now looked completely like a woman (and of course a very beautiful woman at that) and was ready to go. "I can take you to meet them right now."

"Awesome, let's go! I can't wait to get to know these guys, and get my revenge on that horrible fluff haired monster." Yaten added rubbing his hands together maliciously.

"You and me both buster." I said to him, "although I wouldn't really call it revenge…but all right, whatever you want to believe Yaten." _The man has gone crazy – I'll have to constantly remind myself to never ever call him ugly even on one of his off days._ We walked towards the door and I unlocked it, checked to see that no one was around – thankfully no one was, and then Lita, Yaten, and I headed to the kitchen to meet the potential daters.

Lita led us into the kitchen and walked towards the right side of the kitchen, where a handsome blonde man with brown eyes stood there, fixing a rack of lamb. "Hello there Kakeru. How are you today?" He said flashing a dazzling white smile – he had perfect teeth! _Wow – I guess the strippers aren't the only beautiful people around here._

"Oh hello head chef. I'm doing great, just working on this lamb for tonight's VIP guests – they're arriving early – about a half an hour earlier than when the club usually opens up. I guess Amara has her hands full."

Lita chuckled. "Most likely she does. This is Serena." She said introducing me.

"How do you do?" I asked him smiling and extending my hand for a handshake.

"Uh – nice to meet you too. I would shake your hand but…" he said pointing to the lamb.

"Right, excuse me – sorry about that!" I said as everyone laughed.

"And here we have Yaten, but I'm sure that the two of you have met already." Lita continued, as Yaten nodded his head in recognition, Kakeru nodded his head back. "Anyway, great work then – I was just checking in on you – but I know that you can handle this easily, carry on and don't mind us."

"Right, back to work; nice to meet you Serena. Good seeing you again Yaten." He said as he diligently went back to his work.

I was about to open my mouth and say something as we moved away from Kakeru and onto the other side of the kitchen, when Lita stopped me. "Don't say a thing yet Serena." She whispered to Yaten and me, "the kitchen has ears all over the place…where you'd least expect it." Then she continued walking as if she hadn't said anything at all to the other side of the room where a young guy with wavy white hair that had a couple of purple streaks in it was working. _Well there's something that they have in common already – that hair! But he looks about Rini's age, probably a bit older, this is great – Lita is a genius! _

"Hello there Peruru." Lita said as she approached the wavy white haired man with the two purple streaks.

"Miss Lita, why hello." He said a bit shyly. "I see that you've brought some friends."

"Yeah, you know the drill – and stop calling me Miss Lita – you make me feel old Peruru - you're a nineteen year old man for pete sakes, and barely younger than me."

"Sorry – Miss Lita, but you know I was raised in the south, and it wouldn't be proper of me to not address you in some formality."

"I know Peruru." Lita said giggling, "and might I add you are quite the gentleman." Peruru blushed a bit, his gray eyes brightened a bit. _He's from the south? I couldn't even tell – no accent or anything like that – but he sure seems nice. I said staring at him; he was handsome as well, although not my type – way too young for me. _"I brought some friends here that also work at Polaris. Since you're new here and all I thought that maybe you'd like to meet a few of your fellow employees."

"Hi!" I said to him and waved.

He smiled back at me and bowed. "Hello there ma'am, it's nice to meet you." Then he looked at Yaten and did the same thing, which was when Lita whispered something in his ear. "Oh, I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean to…"

"Quite all right." Yaten cooed, I could tell that he was starting to get into a better mood now, " I often get mistaken for a woman – even when I'm out of this costume. It's not a problem, although it's hard to find a girlfriend when I'm dressed this way everyday."

"Well it's nice meeting you two – but if you'll excuse me I have to get back to work. This appetizer isn't going to make itself." He said with a smile.

"Right, bye now – I'll come and check in on you later." Lita told him as we rounded the kitchen again and once again walked towards the back of the kitchen – closer to the entrance to the employee's changing room as well as the back exit.

"One more…" she whispered to us casually as we reached the destination. Once again we were taken to a man with wavy white hair, only a lot less wavy than Peruru's. I noticed immediately that he had the most beautiful golden hazel eyes that I had ever seen. When I was still single (even though I guess I'm not officially off the market yet) – if I had paid attention more when I was in the kitchens I would've realized that it was a man goldmine! "Helios my good friend, how are things?" Lita asked as she gave him a small hug as he temporarily stopped chopping vegetables for what looked like it would eventually become a soup.

"Hi Lita! Great to see you – I'm so glad that vacation's over." He chuckled, "I go on vacation for a bit over a week, and by the first day I'm already missing the place – as well as your charming self."

"I swear sometimes if I didn't know any better – I would swear that you're hitting on me Helios."

"Oh grow up Lita." He joked again, "we all know that you like women, and I also like women – plus you're like a sister to me, and hitting on my sister would be absolutely revolting." Helios said, sticking his tongue out a bit at Lita. "Ah who do we have here? I see Yaten there – but I don't recognize the pretty woman standing next to him."

"Don't waste your time Helios – she's spoken for and her name is Serena." Lita said, Helios looked at her curiously, "not by me though – she likes men." Lita said waving her arms nervously.

"Ah, well it's a pleasure to meet you Serena. Any good friend of Lita's is a friend of mine." He said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too."

"Well we should get going…" Yaten remarked in a low voice.

"You're right Yaten, we have to get to our posts soon – and I need to retouch my makeup a bit. Goodbye Helios – once again lovely to meet you." I told him with a genuine smile.

"I've got to finish getting ready as well…" Lita lied, catching onto Yaten's hint that we should get to a place where we could discuss who would be best for Rini. "Catch ya later bro."

"See ya sis." Helios remarked with a grin._ Despite the fact that he's not actually Lita's brother, he acts like he is – how adorable._

We quickly left the kitchen and then went back to the dressing room – we had ten minutes before everyone else got to Polaris to get ready for work. That's where we'd pick who was right for Rini. The three of us rushed to the dressing room, but unfortunately someone was already there, so we went to the bathroom. I checked all the stalls and made sure that no one was in there. Then I headed back to the lounge area of the bathroom – being careful not to sit down anywhere. _Michelle and Amara were about to fuck in here after all._ "The coast is clear." I said, "I feel like we're doing some kind of spy work – this is so cool!" I squealed happily as I was shushed by both Yaten and Lita. "Sorry – inner child thing and all you know?" I squeaked.

"Now – which one should we push Rini at?" Lita demanded. Yaten and I looked at each other.

"Well to be honest Lita – you know the three of them better than we do. Honestly they're you're kitchen staff."

"I know that – but we're not going to introduce Rini to one of them based on my working relationship with these guys! We need a gameplan." Lita said still contemplating which one we should choose.

"Why exactly again do we have to choose one of them?" I asked, an idea was starting to form in my head.

"Come again?" Yaten asked – still a bit lost in his thoughts.

"I think that we should just introduce her to all three of them, and see which one she likes the best. Only I shouldn't be the one to do it – based on what happened last night with Darien."

"Sounds like a great idea to me, Yaten?" Lita asked looking at him.

"Excellent – brilliant Serena. As for the introductions though – Lita's obviously the best candidate."

"Yep – has to be you Lita. Rini hates Yaten, and by now obviously doesn't trust me – you're our only hope. You've got to figure out a way to introduce her to all of these guys without seeming too obvious or anything."

"Ah – well, I think that I've got another plan that can help me to introduce Rini to all of these guys."

"Do tell – and make it quick, seems like more people are starting to come in…" I said a bit nervously as a sound of another bag being dropped on the floor, and new footsteps echoed into the bathroom from outside.

"I'll offer her a free three-course meal today, made by our three different handsome chefs. Who knows – maybe she'll trust me enough to spill the beans on if she thinks that any of them are cute. Or I could always drop hints, maybe say that I think one of them is cute and see how she responds."

"As long as Trista doesn't hear you saying that…"I remarked.

"Trista knows that I only like women – we had a discussion about that the other day." Lita replied a bit testily.

"Fine by me. All right then, so operation get Rini a new man is in full-effect now right?" I said as Yaten and Lita nodded in response.

"Cool. This is going to be great, can't wait to hear all the details Lita." I was so excited that I barely knew what to do with myself. The rest of the night was going to be absolutely amazing, and I couldn't wait to hear the news from Lita.

Author's endnote: Sorry for another short chapter…but I'm so tired, can't write anymore (I've been up late/all morning even sometimes running errands and doing other things…can't wait to get back to California). I hope that I can give you the next chapter soon…but I'll have to see what's going on – so far my schedule doesn't look too promising. However, before the end of August I'll definitely give you another chapter or two.


	9. A Plan in Motion

Author's note: Thanks once again fantasyluv, I thought that if I put Helios in the story that it would really make a few people happy! I'd like to apologize for all the errors in chapter seven – it's interesting, since recently I've been writing really early in the morning and I guess that maybe my editing skills aren't as great in the mornings. I don't know if I ever said where this story would take place (smacks forehead)…but it's become more and more apparent to me that I would have probably set it in California – so there you have it, it's in California (and if I've ever said anywhere else before – terribly sorry, I'll have to go and fix it later). For those of you who live in/have been to California, you'll see an obvious (for those of you who have ever gone to a fast food restaurant) California reference sometime soon (maybe not in this chapter). I'm also sorry that it took so long to get this too you guys – I've been busy moving into my apartment (back in CA) and while I was at my parents' house we had tons of storms…so the power was out for about 9 hours…the internet was down for longer. Now classes are starting up again so I figured that I should get this story to you guys! So I've just been busy. Ah in any case I don't own Sailor Moon…more story coming at ya (also another apology this is going to be short – but I've also started on Chapter Nine – I'm like over halfway done with it…it was weird because I got inspired for Chapter Nine before I wrote Chapter Eight and I might have to start writing shorter chapters depending on the workload that I've got…another sorry!).

**Chapter Eight: A Plan in Motion**

Now that the plan had been set – actions needed to be taken. Before we left the bathroom we all decided on where we should be stationed during "Operation Pink Crush" or OPC. We decided that it would be nice if we had a code name for Lita's plan, that way we could talk to each other in code if necessary. _Wow I feel like I'm a secret agent on a mission – this is so cool! _We considered the possibility that Rini might stay in the kitchen with Lita up until it was time to open Polaris – so Lita would get me some food, then Yaten and I could go to the bar. It would be too risky for me to go into the kitchen while Rini was still there – besides Yaten was excited to have a few drinks.

"I haven't had a drink in a while, and really a coke and rum would do me just fine right about now." At least that's what he told Lita and I while we were still exchanging ideas in the bathroom. As Yaten and I walked towards the bar area – I was secretly praying that our plan would actually work. _I mean come on, who the hell wouldn't want a free three-course dinner prepared by some of the best chefs in the damned world! Rini has to accept Lita's offer. _The thought of Rini succumbing to our plan made me even happier – now all I had to do was worry about other people who might be trying to take Darien away from me. I wouldn't say that I'm jealous or anything like that…well…all right maybe a little bit. _It's funny really – to think that I'm starting to fall for him…after I really hated his guts the first time that I met him. Darien's just too good to let go. He's like a rare gem that I don't want to give up. There's nothing wrong with that._

"Okay Serena, here's your food." Lita said cheerfully as she came into the bar and gave me a plate of what I'd like to call fast food heaven. A big juicy cheeseburger, fries, and a nice Serena sized coke. I was fully prepared to sit down at my station and eat my food. _I swear this is the only place that I can possibly get great burgers…well here and In and Out. _"Now I've got to go and find Rini…so I'll let you know what happens when I do."

I was absolutely giddy by this time. _This is going to be great! _

"Hey Serena, how about that rum and coke if you please?" Yaten asked me as I was about to bite into my burger.

"Sure…food can wait for friends." I said as my stomach growled in protest. _Oh come on it'll only take me like 30 seconds._

I made Yaten's drink and we exchanged small talk as we waited for OPC to really get in gear. But the wait…despite the fact that it had only been fifteen minutes since Lita had left…was making me anxious. I desperately wanted to get in there and see what was going on. "Yaten…I wish that we could see what's going on! This is going to take longer than I thought. Hell the club might even be open by the time that Rini picks one."

"You know you're probably right Serena. But the best that we can do is wait, I mean Lita knows what she's doing, and if we show up in there Rini will be suspicious that something is going on."

"Suspicious of what?" Came a voice from behind us.

_Shit! This can't possibly be good._

"What the hell are you plotting Serena?" The voice continued, I turned to see Raye's purple eyes staring me down. Already the guilt was starting to creep into my system.

"Oh it's nothing Raye, don't you worry about it."

"Exactly what are you trying to do to my little niece?" She growled from between her teeth.

_Oh shit Serena, think fast!_

"Well…you know we didn't want to tell you Raye since we thought that it might spoil the surprise because you might tell her…"

"Tell her about what exactly. You know I'm a pretty good secret keeper Serena." Raye said with her arms crossed.

"I guess we'll have to tell her Yaten" I sighed, and subtly gave him a little wink, hoping that he would catch onto my plan.

"You're right." Yaten said, also sighing – he apparently got the message.

"Spit it out already!" Raye said loudly.

"Not so loud…she'll hear you." I told Raye, who immediately blushed and calmed down. "Well you know that Rini's birthday is this weekend right?"

"Yes…"

"Well we were thinking of throwing her a surprise party."

"Really? That's so sweet of you guys – like to make her feel more at home here at Polaris right?" Raye asked – she was simply beaming.

"Of course," Yaten replied with a grin – that was obviously fake but Raye wasn't paying any attention.

"You two are so sweet. So let me guess, she's in the kitchen with Lita because you guys are having her cater the party right?"

"Yes. Right now she's in the kitchen with Lita because we're trying to figure out the foods that she likes."

"Wow, I'm so impressed. Do I get let in on this surprise party then? You know I am her aunt, I'd like to be involved somehow."

"Well…we….ummm…" I started, trying to think of something to say to Raye so she wouldn't figure out that I was lying.

"You could help us to pick out the decorations. We don't really know what Rini likes and dislikes so that would really be useful to us." Yaten said – again with a large fake smile plastered on his face.

"True, all right then. I'll definitely help – so we're having this party here then?"

"Yeah that was the plan…before the club opens up on Saturday."

"Or maybe we could even have Rini night at Polaris that night. Something super cute like that. It would be adorable – we could have pink drinks at the bar, Rini could be spinning the turntables all night, since you know how much she loves it. Absolutely perfect, unless you guys already had that part planned out?"

"No – no, not at all. What you're suggesting sounds excellent" I stated, while I noticed Yaten glaring at me from across the bar.

"This is absolutely brilliant, surprise party wish I had thought of that. So I guess we should all meet up tomorrow and figure out everything that we need for the party, right?"

"Of…course we will, we just need to tell Lita once Rini's out of the kitchen."

"I say that we all meet at our place before work Serena, that way everyone will be informed. Say – why don't you get Darien in on this plan – he seems to just adore Rini."

At that point, Yaten wasn't the only one with a sour mood, jealousy started to rise in my chest, but for now I ignored it – waiting to send Raye off on her way so that Yaten and I could figure out what the hell we were supposed to do now that my little lie had carried us off into planning a party for Rini.

"Umm…I'll see if he's not busy tomorrow…"

"Of course he's not Serena, he can always make some spare time for you! You should know that by now. Anyway, I've got to go and make sure that everything else is in order for Polaris to open. What a wonderful idea though Serena, I'm so proud that you came up with it. Wish that I had thought about it. If I don't see you for the rest of the night Yaten, I'll see you at the house that I share with Serena and my girlfriend tomorrow then."

"I'll be there with bells on." Yaten said, the fake smile growing even wider on his face.

"Excellent. Bye all!"

"Bye Raye."

"Goodbye." Yaten looked so enraged by the time that Raye was gone, I thought that he was going to burst a vein. "Plan a party for that little pink-haired bitch? Have you lost your damned mind! I don't like her…how the fuck am I supposed to be nice to her when she had no respect for people that are older – and of course more good looking – than her! Serena do you not remember that she called me ugly? Ugly – of all the words to describe me…ugly is not one of them!" Yaten hissed.

"Look it's not like I want to plan a party and celebrate her 18th birthday either, I mean come on she is trying to steal Darien away from me after all!"

"Yes I know that but…"

"But, I needed something to save our asses from Raye – if she had found out what we're doing, and why we're doing it, then she would've fired Rini."

"And that fucking little pink-haired pixie would've deserved it too!" Yaten spat.

"Yaten…I don't think that she deserves to be fired for what she's doing…she's just…"

"Lacking manners." Yaten replied, crossing his arms.

"I think that hit the nail right on the head. Anyway what we should do now is plan that party because I would hate to think of what would happen if Raye finds out that there's no party."

"Did I hear someone say something about a party?" Lita asked, entering the room.

Yaten and I instantly perked up. "What's the news?" He asked, practically falling off the edge of his bar seat.

"First of all where is she…we don't want to know that this was all a scam."

"Well actually, she's still in the back talking to Helios." Lita told us with a smile. "She's seemed to really take a liking to him. She met Kakeru, who gave her the first course – but all she did was politely smile at him and say 'thank you' – not even a second glance. Then Peruru came with her second dish and she stared at him for a while, at first I was thinking that she'd go for Peruru, but he's kind of shy so he left – embarrassed by the fact that she was staring at him and smiling. Then Helios came to give her the dessert course, it was almost as if Peruru had left her mind because she was instantly all over Helios – and him being the little flirt that he was, decided to sit down and talk to her. He was pretty happy to find out that she turns 18 on Saturday – I don't think that he'd even take a step near her if it wasn't almost her birthday." Lita said with a giggle.

"This is wonderful, maybe she'll forget about Darien then!" I said happily.

"Well at least I hope that Helios is a nice distraction for her – it'll be even better if they start dating after she turns 18." Lita said with a grin.

"Thank you so much Lita, you're a life saver!" I said hugging her.

Yaten still sat there with his arms crossed, then he muttered, "that still doesn't change the fact that we've got another problem on our hands – and the fact that she called me ugly."

Lita and I unwrapped our arms from around each other, as a solemn look crept over my face. In the excitement of Rini discovering the existence of Helios – I had completely forgotten about the lie that we had told Raye.

"What happened while I was gone?" Lita asked – a bit of suspicion in her voice.

"Well you see…it's like this Lita…" I started.

"She told Raye that were throwing a surprise birthday party for Rini this Saturday and we're having a whole Polaris-themed night dedicated to Rini…all thanks to our favorite blonde." Yaten said, a bit of sarcasm dripping at the end of his sentence.

"Excuse me Yaten – like you came up with something better – we didn't have enough time to come up with anything better…"

"If you had just kept your mouth shut while we were out here then I wouldn't have to be coming to your house tomorrow to help plan a party for someone I can't stand!" Yaten said aggressively as he got up from his chair.

Daggers were shooting out of both of our eyes as Lita split us up, "let's not point fingers here guys. Now we have a new situation to deal with, and we need to come up with another plan and fast. Serena I accredit you for thinking on your feet, and Yaten you were great too in helping Serena carry out this lie in order to help Raye not be suspicious – although you had the opportunity to rat us all out." Yaten and I looked at each other satisfied concerning Lita's analysis. "I say what we do is…we go to your place tomorrow – as Yaten said earlier, we help Raye plan out this party…and we go along with it. I mean it's only one day – how hard could it be?"

"Yeah I also told Raye that you were going to do the catering for Rini by the way."

Lita, "that's perfectly fine Serena. If it must be done, it must be done. So what time should we be over there?"

"My guess is around lunchtime…maybe you could make us some lunch – if it's not too much to ask." I pleaded, begging Lita with my eyes.

"Sure, sounds good to me. What about you Yaten?"

"Like I said before – I'll be there…noon and good food. Sounds better – plus I won't have to deal with the pink-haired one anyway, since she won't be there."

"Very true." I agreed, "and I guess that all that's left to do for today is invite Darien over for lunch as well."

"Wait Darien's going to be involved in this too?" Lita asked curiously.

"Yes. Raye said something earlier about how Darien took a liking to her or something…." I said a bit bitterly.

"Don't worry about that though Serena. Well I've got to start cooking – almost opening time." Lita said, going into the kitchen as Rini stepped out of the kitchen and went straight to the DJ booth.

"I'm going to go and get backstage…almost that time of night." Yaten said, getting up from the barstool.

I stood there, waiting for another night to start and end. The day had already had its fair share of drama – and I wasn't really looking forward to any potential bar fights or anything of the like. _Hopefully I'll get to see Amara and Michelle – maybe they'll want to come over tomorrow as well. I think that Raye would like it if everyone seemed to be in on the whole party scheme. _Thankfully the night passed pretty quickly with no mishaps or anything and as luck would have it towards the end of the night, Michelle walked up to my station.

"Hey bartender, how about a martini? A classy drink for a class lady." She said with a smile and a wink.

"Michelle, I was just thinking about you earlier."

"You were? Ah…well I'm glad that I'm in someone's thoughts tonight. I was just stopping by to see how everything was going. You know I come here every once in a while – to check on how my favorite people are doing."

"So how are Amara and Darien tonight?"

"I don't know – haven't seen either of them yet…but you know, you're also among the people that I absolutely have to come and see."

"Really?"

"Well of course – you're more than just my brother's girlfriend Serena. You're a great person and I love hanging around you." Michelle said with a smile.

"That's so nice of you to say that…"

"I say it because it's true. So what's been going on lately?"

Since I trust Michelle – I decided that it would be all right to tell her what had happened earlier today, the entire story – from the lie that Rini told Darien to the surprise party that we were throwing for Rini on Saturday.

"Wow Serena – sounds like you already had a busy day."

"Yeah, all in a day's work I guess."

"Still it's terrible what she did to you."

"True, but what the hell am I supposed to do about it?"

"Of course – just go with the plan."

"So…do you want to come over tomorrow and help plan the surprise party?"

"Well…I don't even know her…wouldn't it be a bit awkward."

"She loves Darien, so I'm sure that she would love you as well."

"I'd like to hope that she doesn't love me in the same way as Darien…or else she'd have a very jealous Amara on her hands." We both laughed. "But sure…for you Serena, I'll be there."

With that she finished her martini and left, my guess was to go to the back and see how Darien was doing before his show tonight. After Michelle left I continued to do my job, waiting for the end of the night, where I could go home and relax. Darien took the stage, and I decided to take a fifteen-minute break to watch as my man erotically performed. Darien was wonderful as usual, and I was practically drowning in my own drool while I watched as he started grinding against the floor. A woman who was having a bachelorette party got a lap dance from him, and I could tell that she was enjoying it – a little too much for my liking. After that, he took a bow and left the stage, my guess was that Michelle was probably waiting for him in the office. With the main event of the night over and done with, a lot of people started packing up, getting ready to go home. I cleaned up my station – excited to be done for the day. As I was finishing up, I noticed a woman with long emerald hair walking towards the kitchen, ignoring the 'employees only' sign.

"Umm, excuse me ma'am, you can't go in there."

"Oh, hello Serena – I forgot that you worked here. I'm just going in there to pick up Lita, if that's all right?"

"Well…uh…"

Lita walked out at that moment, already changed and ready to go. "Oh sorry Serena – I already cleared it with Raye – Trista is allowed here anytime she wants."

_Raye said that? I guess she's over the fact that Trista used to fuck Mina. Which is of course wonderful news._ "Okay – I was just making sure, I'm so sorry Trista."

"No problem Serena, I understand. I'd most likely question why you had let me go into the back if you had – with no questions asked."

"We have to be on our way Serena – apparently Trista's got a little present for me that she says I have to wait home to see…" Lita said, giving me a wink. Trista started blushing a deep red color.

"Don't let me hold you back – go ahead you two, by all means." I said, also a bit embarrassed that Lita would say that in front of me, I practically pushed them out the door. "I'll see you tomorrow at noon Lita – don't forget!"

"I won't, you can bet your ass I won't." Lita said as she walked out the door with Trista.

The bar had become virtually empty, and I was about to leave when I heard a voice say, "going somewhere sexy?"

I turned away from the door, and noticed Darien, leaning against my station, smiling at me. "So Trista's giving Lita a present eh?" He said with a sly smile playing up his face.

I blushed and started to stutter, "uh-well….y-yeah! T-that's right, a p-p-present." Despite the fact that Darien used to be a nerd and was a gentle and sweet man, I wouldn't put it past him to get horny a lot. I mean come on he's a stripper damn it! He might do real estate and own the club, but stripping must do something to him in the crotch region.

"That's very sweet of her." Darien said, coming closer to me and kissing me gently on my lips. "So how about let's say I give you a present as well…."

_What the fuck! We haven't even had our second date yet and he's already asking me if I want to bone him! The nerve of some men – why I should tell him what I think of him right now and leave._

"How about we stop somewhere that's open right now and get a midnight snack, on me? There's got to be a 24 hour restaurant around here someplace." He said, his wonderful smile still shinning brightly at me.

_Wow – now I'm glad that I didn't say anything; I might've regretted it._ "Sure Darien, I would like that – I am kind of hungry…" I said as my stomach growled in agreement.

"Hahaha." He laughed a wonderfully charming laugh, "that's my Serena – my funny bunny. Do you mind if I call you Bunny Serena? I think it suits you…and I'd love to give you a special nickname…" his gentle blue eyes stared into mine.

"I'd like that Darien. Bunny eh? It's a cute nickname." I said with a smile, "but we should hurry up and find a place to eat…my stomach can't wait forever."

"All right – let's drive over there, do you want to leave your car here tonight and I can take you to work tomorrow in my car?"

I thought about it for a second, _well there's nothing of value in my car…plus this is a very safe neighborhood, so I don't see why not. _"Okay…why not, let's go." I said, as Darien held out his hand, I took it and gave it a little squeeze. Despite the drama it had been a pretty great day…and really it had just begun, since my night with Darien was going to be even better.

Author's end note: Sorry to end on that…but I'm already working on the next chapter…so once again I apologize for getting a chapter out so late. But I promise that the next one will be better, longer, and hopefully I'll get it to you quicker. I've got Labor Day weekend to work on stories, so hopefully I can crank out a few more chapters before my workload increases. Well I tried out for a play last night as well…so I'm going to go and see if I got a part. Until next time…


	10. Author's Note Number Two

Hey all - I'd like for everyone to know that no I have no died (nor have I abandoned my stories, I love them too much to do that). Unfortunately I have become insanely busy over the past weeks (I've been having midterms and things such as that). Luckily this weekend is fall break, which means that I'll be able to catch up to where I was before in the stories. So I owe you guys a lot, thanks for sticking with me despite all of this busyness (it was a lot easier during the summer but you all understand). I promise that I will have fresh chapters for you soon! I love you all!

Cami


	11. A Wild Night

Author's note: Well I'm back all, sorry that it took so long! I really am – especially after I promised you guys new chapters soon, but I'll make it up to you I promise. I've been insanely busy recently (and unfortunately I've also had some sadness in my life recently, a couple days after I promised to make more chapters for you guys – pretty much a person in my fiance's family has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness – I won't really elaborate on it, you can probably guess, but talking about it makes me sad), I've had rehersal (I'm in a play here at college, yay!), I'm sick as a dog (got a really bad cold a couple of days ago), and I have midterms, and I'm about to get even busier – believe it or not. As for the previous version of chapter nine that I had written – I decided to move it back because the events in it aren't necessarily following the flow of the story as of yet – but if you're curious as to what the original Chapter 9 looks like, don't worry, you're going to see it in a later Chapter (I'll tell you when we get to it). So let's get the usual stuff over and done with: I don't own Sailor Moon, Serena's thoughts are in _italics_. All set then, thanks for being patient with me.

**Chapter Nine: A Wild Night**

I woke up and stretched in my bed, I really didn't want to get up and face the day. The previous night had been romantic…and stressful. "Good morning beautiful." Darien said to me from the other side of the bed, he was staring at me with those beautiful jet blue eyes of his.

"Good morning sweetie, I almost forgot that you were here."

"I'd like to hope that you hadn't forgotten about me." He said with a smile. "Ready for party planning?"

All right – before we go any further into the next day, I'm sure that you're all wondering – how did Darien get in my bed, why did I let him in my bed, etc, etc. I think that in order to explain all of this…we need to go back to this morning.

**Flashback to early this morning:**

Darien had taken me to Denny's, which is not usually his style, but it's hard to find a sit down place around 3am. We had talked and laughed over our late night snack, then Darien had taken me home in his gorgeous Rolls Royce, which I carefully sat in – I didn't want to put even a little mark in that car! As he drove me home though, I had this horrible war going on in my head.

Sitting in the passenger seat, with my hands folded on my lap, I stared out the window into space, letting the battle within concerning one of my favorite people continue. _Should I tell him about Rini's party? But what if that little bitch decides to use it as another opportunity to take him away from me? She couldn't, she wouldn't – and she won't now that Helios is here. I really shouldn't worry too much about it – I should just go ahead and tell him._

"You're being awful quiet my beautiful Bunny. Is it because you're sad that we're almost at your place? Well the night is still young – so if you're not too tired we can always go somewhere and talk."

"Darien – I have a confession, well maybe that's not the right word, but something to tell you." I said, looking up at his face for the first time since our late night snack. He was frowning, but still concentrating on the road.

"Am I not the right man for you? Have you decided that you don't want to date me anymore?" His frown deepened and he sounded a bit choked up.

"What the fuck!" I practically screamed at him, which startled Darien a bit. "Hell no – that's not it, I absolutely love going out with you – still looking forward to our date on Sunday actually." I said, calming down a little bit. _In a way it's kind of sweet that he's so insecure, but simultaneously of course I don't want him to be._

His frown quickly changed into a smile, "great to hear that – I'm really looking forward to it too. So what did you want to tell me about?" He said, catching a quick glance at me. We were nearing my house and I definitely did not want to stay in the car with Darien for too long, because Mina and Raye would tease me about it until Sunday, the next time that Darien and I went out – and with all the extra stress that I already have – I don't need anymore.

"Well…you know how Saturday is Rini's birthday right?"

"Yeah – of course I remember. Every single time Rini sees me – she reminds me about it, and drops hints about things that she wants. I'm debating on whether or not I'll get her a birthday present. Rini's like a little kid almost – it's really adorable though."

"Oh really? So what does she want?" I asked, I just had to know.

"She was saying something along the lines of she wants a lap dance for her birthday. Never said from who though, I told her that she can have one from whomever she wants. She was absolutely ecstatic."

_Oh I know who she wants a lap dance from all right and she's certainly not getting one! There is no way that she's going to feel Darien's manhood against her body, not if I can help it! _For a while I was stewing in my thoughts, fuming, while Darien was talking about some of the other things that Rini wants for her birthday.

"Anyway, I'm glad that you guys cleared up your little misunderstanding then – since you're asking about Rini's birthday. Because that's great – you know Rini's a very nice young lady once you get to know her."

"Huh? Yeah, sure."

I bit my lip hard, oh the things that I wanted to say to Darien about that cotton candy haired freak. I wanted to tell Darien what a vindictive little bitch she is – and how she has been – and probably still is after his dick, but I held my tongue. After such a romantic dinner there's no need to make myself look bad by back talking another person. Now I just had to tell him about the party. _Serena, you can do this – I mean it's only a birthday party-planning thing, no biggie! He has to come – or else Raye will be suspicious, and I don't want all of our hard work to go to waste._

"So you never told me exactly Serena, what's on your mind? Anything that I can do to help you out with your troubles my little bunny?" He asked, as he pulled up to my driveway and put the car in park, then looked into my eyes for the first time since our late night meal.

"Okay, well, we're having a surprise party for Rini, Darien. We're going to start planning it for her tomorrow morning, and we were wondering if you would like to come and help us out. Raye said that Rini would really appreciate it, and of course I'm sure that she will too…since she really has taken a liking to you." My last words were practically acidic, but Darien didn't notice.

"Wow, what a great idea, and how nice of you – especially after you two had your…umm…differences. I'll definitely be there tomorrow to help plan the surprise party, I'm sure that Rini will be thrilled."

"Oh I'm sure she will." I replied, a bit unsure of how to respond to that remark. "Well we're here at my stop then, I guess I should be getting out now." I said, opening the door of Darien's luxurious Rolls Royce.

"Wait Serena." He said as I climbed out of the car, "at least let me walk you to the door so that way I can properly say goodnight."

I blushed, and smiled at him as he turned the car off. He got out of the car, and we both lightly closed the car doors, and walked together, hand in hand to my door.

"I guess that this is goodnight then Darien." I said, staring up into his blue eyes with a smile.

"Maybe…unless you want to invite me in for a cup of hot chocolate to top off the night." Darien said with a wink, I blushed.

"Well it is late – and I…uh, what about you getting home? I don't want you to be too tired on your way home – if you were to stay over longer, it's almost 5 – and we're going to be party planning in the morning."

"It's all right, I was thinking that maybe…if it's all right with you and your roommates that I might be able to spend the night tonight. I always carry around a suitcase filled with clothes, toothpaste, the works – although I might need to borrow a blanket from you if that's all right?"

"You're planning on sleeping on the couch Darien?"

"Well I do consider myself to be a gentleman after all, so yes. I feel that it's a bit early in our relationship to be going to bed with you – don't you?"

My face felt incredibly warm from the massive blush that was taking over my face. I had to try so hard to keep myself from thinking naughty thoughts. _Darien and me in bed together…you have to control yourself Serena, or else you're going to start drooling all over the front door._

"Of course you're right Darien, I don't think that Raye and Mina will mind if you stay over…" _although I'm sure that I will hear all about it after you leave._ "So how about that hot chocolate then?"

"Sounds great." He said, as we shared a quick kiss on the lips, and I opened the door – thankfully to find neither Raye nor Mina downstairs.

"I should probably write them a note on their door, or something – that way they don't walk down here naked or anything like that." I said quickly, "you know what I mean, right?"

"Of course Bunny, take your time, how about I start on the hot chocolate while you do that?"

"No, you're my guest, it won't take me that long. Have a seat on the couch, while I just grab a post-it note and a pen." I started to go upstairs; I had reached the middle of the staircase when, suddenly, I heard a loud moan coming from upstairs.

"Raaaaayyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeee!!!! You naughty girl, while I'm sleeeeeeeepppppiiiiiiinnnngggg! Mmmmmm, time for you to learn a lesson, I'll teach you to wake me up with that tantalizing tongue of yours."

_Shit! Why tonight of all nights._ The task of leaving a simple post-it note on their door had gotten a lot more complicated. _What the fuck am I going to do…knock on their door – and Darien's downstairs, what if he hears them having sex, Raye will kill me! I just can't leave Darien waiting downstairs either, what if he gets worried about me and comes upstairs, I said that I would be really quick._ As I was contemplating what to do, I heard a loud bang – from Raye and Mina's room.

"So what are you going to do now my little minx? I have you pinned against the door…there's no way that you can escape my clutches now." Raye said, she was so loud that I could hear every word clear as day.

_Why oh why do they have to have such loud sex! Can't they ever have a quiet night?_

"What's going on up there Serena? Someone having a little fun?"

The moaning was so loud that I didn't even notice that Darien had come up the stairs, right next to me. "AA---mmph!!!!!!" My scream was quickly muffled by Darien's hand.

"It's all right, it's me, sorry to startle you so badly Serena."

"I'm sorry – I was just so distracted, and I mean it's so loud that…"

"You didn't hear me coming?"

"Bingo." I said, once again staring into those bright blue eyes. "Listen, I don't want to interrupt them or anything, nor do I want them to be startled by you sleeping on the couch – because sometimes after they have sex, they like to go down to the fridge…"

"I get what you're saying" Darien said as he looked down the stairs and started to move down them. "Well you can tell me goodnight right here then, thank you for your offer of letting me stay over though."

"No wait Darien…" I said, grabbing his arm quickly, he turned around and looked at me. "I know that you're a gentleman – and I know that you respect me as your girlfriend, but I don't want you to drive home this late – and I know that you're tired."

"It's a short drive Serena, I'll be fi.."

"No, Darien – you're still going to stay over tonight. Now, I have an air mattress in my room, and there's plenty of extra space for me to pump it up for you….or we could sleep in the same bed….I mean I don't mind, and I hope that you don't mind much either."

In the moonlight that was illuminating the room, I could see a light blush come over Darien's face. "Are you sure Bunny?"

"Positive, now go ahead and get your suitcase out of the car, and I'll make the bed up comfortable enough for two people to sleep in."

"Thank you Serena…" Darien said with a smile, and he gave me a gentle but passionate kiss. We stood there – on the stairs, our mouths locked, tongues tangoing with each other for a few minutes until…. "I should go and get my stuff…" Darien said, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek, then ran outside to get his things.

I grabbed a couple extra pillows and blankets from my closet, and put them on the bed. Luckily I sleep in a king sized bed, so I knew that room for the two of us would not be a problem. I heard the door close downstairs, _wow that man is quick!_ I ran downstairs, amidst loud groans and pounding against the door.

"Minnnnnaaaaaaa! Fuck me, oooh baby…use your tongue…..I'm tired of getting teased…..you're always such a tease…..oooohoohhhhhh!"

Despite all of the noise, which the two of us used for cover, we quickly ran to my room and softly closed the door. We stood there staring at each other.

"Well…uh I normally wear pajamas when I sleep…" I said nervously, as Darien continued to stare at me in silence.

"And we both have to brush our teeth…"

"But I really don't want to go to the bathroom right now to change…it's right next to their room, it would be too loud you know."

"Ummm….you're right." Darien replied, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

I could smell the sexual tension in the air, I mean sure I know that it's my sister in the other room getting it on – but with all of that noise, and knowing what Darien's got under that shirt – it was so utterly tempting to just rip it off, toss him in my bed, and show him how a real woman likes to get it on. _Yes…you haven't had sex since you were with Seiya, but you and Darien haven't even officially gone out on your next date yet…in fact you haven't even been together for a week yet – I mean really! _My mind was definitely telling me that it was a bad idea, but my body…my body wanted to explore Darien's.

"You know what, I don't need a bathroom – I'll just change in my closet, no peeking all right?"

Darien just nodded and I gave him a wink as I went into my closet, and closed the door a little bit, then took off my shirt. _What would a little bit of foreplay hurt? It's not like anyone will know about it besides you and Darien…_I heard footsteps approaching the closet, and that's when I decided on what I was going to do. I opened the door of the closet, and stared at the man before me. Darien wasn't wearing a shirt, and his pants were unzipped, dangerously low. "Copycat." I told him, as I smiled up at him.

"I-I-I-I'm…."

"Speechless?" I asked him with a grin, and he nodded. I pushed him away from the closet and onto the bed, "now you should let me take the reins, you can't be the boss everywhere now can you?"

Darien nodded and smiled at me, "you….are so beautiful…..Serena." He said in between gasps – as if he was still trying to catch his breath. I straddled him, staring down into those beautiful jet blue eyes. Immediately after I had wrapped my legs around him, I felt him – he was already hard underneath me. To tease him, I laid down next to him, still in my bra, panties, and bottoms (which I ended up taking off a couple of seconds later). He wrapped his arms around me, and we started kissing – until we fell asleep. That's right – no foreplay (like I was originally hoping for), no nothing, we just feel asleep in each other's arms in my bed.

Author's end note: Sorry that this chapter was so short…I still have so much to do, I promise I will make it up to you guys and very soon! Before this month is over and I get even busier – you'll have more chapters to read (I've already worked on two of them – but they're not all the way finished as of yet).


	12. Dear Readers A Note

Dear Readers,

Dear Readers,

I am so sorry that I have been keeping you guys waiting for a new chapter for my stories but I have had a few events in my life that have been holding me back from getting to the computer and writing. My future mother in law was battling with cancer from late 2007 until around March of this year – when she, bless her heart – beat her cancer and is a proud survivor. It was a very hard time for my fiancé and our family (which will soon become one), especially to see her in the state that she was in (my father had cancer when I was younger as well, and he was able to survive it so it's nice to know that we have a strong family). I also had a huge course load last semester (not to mention being pledge master for my co-ed theatre fraternity), and now as a senior in college I've been able to free up my time, meaning that I will finally be able to continue and then finish my stories. I apologize to keep all of you waiting and I hope that you can forgive me. Just please forgive me if I drift every once in a while – I'm still in the midst of planning my wedding (which is next year).

Thank you for bearing with me,

Mangaluva09


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